Senator Backs Off Espionage Act Proposal

march 2, 2007  11:46 am
Senator Backs Off Espionage Act Proposal
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-AZ, who had informed colleagues that he planned to introduce an amendment to the Act that would have created the equivalent of the U.S. version of the British Official Secrets Act, reversed course yesterday, according to Cox Newspapers' Washington Bureau. Although the original amendment circulated by Kyl would have criminalized the communication or publication of any classified information "concerning efforts by the United States to identify, investigate, or prevent terrorist activity," his spokesperson now says the Senator's intentions were widely misunderstood. "It was (an overly broad) draft, only a draft and slightly premature on some people's part to say this was the final amendment," he says. A Capitol Hill newspaper credits "pushback" by the Sunshine in Government Initiative, of which AAN is a member, with the senator's change of heart.