Robert Mac Lean - Republican Author of 2012 Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act Declared That A 'Sensitive Securi

Republican Author of 2012 Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act Declared That A 'Sensitive Securi

U.S. Congressman Todd Russell Platts, Republican from Pennsylvania, made this speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives:

“

First, agencies must not be allowed to circumvent whistleblower protections through so-called "secrecy" regulations, such as a new category of information (labeled "Sensitive Security Information") created by the Department of Homeland Security. Whistleblower law understandably already exempts from whistleblower protections information which is classified or "specifically prohibited by law" from release. Classified information is information that is kept secret by Executive Order, not a hybrid category of information created by agency regulation like "Sensitive Security Information." Moreover, "prohibited by law" has long been understood to mean statutory law and court interpretations of those statutes, not to agency rules and regulations.


If the Federal Circuit Court broadens the "prohibited by law" exemption to include anything that an agency tries to keep secret under any of their regulations, a new loophole could be opened up that would substantially undermine Congressional intent in passing this bill. It is therefore important to once again make it clear: "Prohibited by law" has long been understood to mean statutory law and court interpretations of those statutes, not to agency rules and regulations. Any exceptions to these rights must be created by Congress, and Congress must act with specificity. That has been the law since 1978, and it continues to be the law. 		”

Read more about this topic:  Robert Mac Lean

Famous quotes containing the words declared, act, author, protection and/or republican:

    “It is said that a carpenter building a summer hotel here ... declared that one very clear day he picked out a ship coming into Portland Harbor and could distinctly see that its cargo was West Indian rum. A county historian avers that it was probably an optical delusion, the result of looking so often through a glass in common use in those days.”
    —For the State of New Hampshire, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    “Every act of the man inscribes itself in the memories of his fellows, and in his own manners and face. The air is full of sounds; the sky, of tokens; the ground is all memoranda and signatures; and every object covered over with hints, which speak to the intelligent.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “The world is forever babbling of originality; but there never yet was an original man, in the sense intended by the world; the first man himself—who according to the Rabbins was also the first author—not being an original; the only original author being God.”
    —Herman Melville (1819–1891)

    “After so many historical illustrations of the evil effects of abandoning the policy of protection for that of a revenue tariff, we are again confronted by the suggestion that the principle of protection shall be eliminated from our tariff legislation. Have we not had enough of such experiments?”
    —Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)

    “[The Republican Party] consists of those who, believing in the doctrine that mankind are capable of governing themselves and hating hereditary power as an insult to the reason and an outrage to the rights of men, are naturally offended at every public measure that does not appeal to the understanding and to the general interest of the community.”
    —James Madison (1751–1836)