Public Hearing Transcript Taken Off Line

The news media kicked off Sunshine Week yesterday. Still, darkness looms. In recent days, the Defense Department's NORAD reportedly ordered that a transcript be taken off the web from an open, public hearing which happened in January. That's a new one, with Big Brotherish overtones, we say. The topic of the public hearing was air attacks in the Washington, DC, area. The move prompted one angry individual to write us: "For those of you who attended the ADIZ [Air Defense Identification Zone] public hearings in January, you'll recall that the FAA panel moderator started each session by explaining to us that the verbatim transcript of all testimony would be posted on the DMS [Docket Management System] website, as well as be available for hardcopy purchase.  For a short period, the verbatim testimony transcript was in fact available online. It is now missing from the website in its entirety, nor is it available for hardcopy purchase." Cryptome helpfully provides direct links to where the transcripts used to be, now sadly linking to a blank page which simply says: “PER FAA’s REQUEST, ITEM IS PRESENTLY UNAVAILABLE.” Tomorrow, House National Security Subcommittee Chairman Christopher Shays takes up the topic of policies for handling classified and sensitive information.