The state secrets privilege is a judicially created evidentiary privilege that allows the gov¿t. to resist court-ordered disclosure of info. during litigation, if there is a reasonable danger that such disclosure would harm the nat. security of the U.S. Contents of this report: (1) U.S. v. Reynolds: Asserting the Privilege; Evaluating the Validity of the Privilege; Effect of a Valid Privilege; (2) Totten v. U.S.: Special Case of Nonjusticiable Contracts for Espionage; (3) Classified Info. Procedures Act and Secret Evidence in Criminal Litigation:Withholding Classified Info. During Discovery; Confrontation Clause and the Use of Secret Evidence at Trial; (4) Legislative Modification of the State Secrets Privilege: Foreign Intell. Surveillance Act; State Secrets Protection Act.

A criminal prosecution involving CI may cause tension between the government¿s interest in protecting CI and the criminal defendant¿s right to a constitutionally valid trial. In some cases, a defendant may threaten to disclose CI in an effort to gain leverage. Concerns about this practice, referred to as ¿graymail,¿ led Congress to enact the Classified Info. Procedures Act (CIPA) to provide uniform procedures for prosecutions involving CI. Contents of this report: Background; The CIPA: Pretrial Conferences, Required Notice, and Appeals; Protective Orders and Security Clearances; Discovery: Brady and Jencks Material; Depositions; Admissibility of CI: Substitutions; Confrontation Clause and the Silent Witness Rule. A print on demand report.

The publication of secret information by WikiLeaks and multiple media outlets, followed by news coverage of leaks involving high-profile national security operations, has heightened interest in the legal framework that governs security classification and declassification, access to classified information, agency procedures for preventing and responding to unauthorized disclosures, and penalties for improper disclosure. Classification authority generally rests with the executive branch, although Congress has enacted legislation regarding the protection of certain sensitive information. While the Supreme Court has stated that the President has inherent constitutional authority to control access to sensitive information relating to the national defense or to foreign affairs, no court has found that Congress is without authority to legislate in this area. This report provides an overview of the relationship between executive and legislative authority over national security information, and summarizes the current laws that form the legal framework protecting classified information, including current executive orders and some agency regulations pertaining to the handling of unauthorized disclosures of classified information by government officers and employees. The report also summarizes criminal laws that pertain specifically to the unauthorized disclosure of classified information, as well as civil and administrative penalties. Finally, the report describes some recent developments in executive branch security policies and legislation currently before Congress (S. 3454).