New York Times – by Matt Apuzzo
WASHINGTON — In his first year in office, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. put new limits on when the government could dismiss lawsuits in the name of protecting national security. Now, in what he has said is likely his final year, Mr. Holder has claimed broad authority to do just that in a case unlike any other.
The Justice Department intervened late Friday in a defamation lawsuit against United Against Nuclear Iran, a prominent advocacy group that pushes for tough sanctions against Tehran. The government said the case should be dropped because forcing the group to open its files would jeopardize national security.
The group is not affiliated with the government, and lists no government contracts on its tax forms. The government has cited no precedent for using the so-called state-secrets privilege to quash a private lawsuit that does not focus on government activity.
The lawsuit, by a Greek shipping magnate, accuses United Against Nuclear Iran of falsely accusing him of doing business with Iran. The businessman, Victor Restis, subpoenaed the group for its donor list and all information it had collected about him. That was when the Justice Department stepped in.
“There is no precedent, literally, for what the government is attempting to do,” said Abbe D. Lowell, a lawyer for Mr. Restis.
Under President George W. Bush, the government used the state-secrets privilege to defeat lawsuits over the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program and the Central Intelligence Agency’s torture of terrorist suspects. The government’s power in such cases is absolute. Once it declares that information would jeopardize national security, a judge cannot force the government to reveal it.
In 2009, Mr. Holder tightened the requirements for asserting the privilege. The attorney general must personally approve each case, and “only when genuine and significant harm to national defense or foreign relations is at stake.”
The case most similar to Mr. Restis’s lawsuit is a government scientist’s defamation claim against Penthouse magazine for a 1977 article describing Pentagon research on dolphins. But the government’s interest in that case was clear: The allegations focused on government science, and a senior Navy security official was on the witness list.
The government interest here is less clear. Typically, an assertion of the state secrets privilege is accompanied by a sworn public statement from a senior official — the secretary of defense or C.I.A. director, for example. Those statements, while circumspect, help explain the government’s interest.
In this case, however, the Justice Department said that “the concerned federal agency, the particular information at issue and the bases for the assertion of the state-secrets privilege cannot be disclosed” without jeopardizing national security.
If United Against Nuclear Iran possesses American classified information, it is not clear how the group obtained it. Government intelligence agencies are prohibited from secretly trying to influence public opinion.
“I have never seen anything like this,” said Ben Wizner, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who represented clients in other cases that have been quashed because of state secrets. “If there’s something in their files that would disclose a state secret, is there any reason it should be in their files?”
Another possibility is that the Justice Department is trying to protect foreign relations with Israel, a vital ally. In court documents, Mr. Lowell has accused United Against Nuclear Iran of being financed by unidentified foreign interests. He has tried to force the testimony of Israel’s former intelligence chief and a prominent Israeli businessman, who he said helped pass information about his client.
Lee S. Wolosky, a lawyer for United Against Nuclear Iran, said the group had received no money from foreign donors. He said nobody on its advisory committee — which includes Meir Dagan, the former Israeli intelligence chief — was involved in Mr. Restis’ case. The group has repeatedly said the lawsuit is meritless.
“It is clear that U.A.N.I. and its leaders know they have no defense, and so are hoping to get the government to make this case go away,” Mr. Lowell said. “The bigger question now turns to why the government is doing U.A.N.I.’s bidding and exactly what relationship U.A.N.I. has with the U.S. government, other countries and its web of undisclosed financial supporters.”
Mr. Lowell could argue that the lawsuit should continue without the information he was seeking, but Mr. Wolosky said he expected the case would be dismissed.
“U.A.N.I. will continue to speak out against those who undermine the security of the United States, our friends and allies by doing business in Iran,” Mr. Wolosky said.
State secrets are the same thing as criminal behavior so of course they cannot be revealed!
And I guess when he shipped thousands of guns to Mexican drug cartels, that was good for national security.