Arizona's Other Senator Wants to Fix Leaks

On March 1st, Senator John Kyl (R – AZ) proposed an amendment this week to an anti-terrorism bill that would criminalize disclosure of at least three distinct classes of congressional reports. Kyl’s amendment primarily targets members of Congress and Capitol Hill staff, as the only people in a position to disclosure the content of such offline reports would be Congress members or other staff present during the issuing of the reports. This is actually Kyl’s third amendment to an anti-terrorism bill attempting to criminalize a broader array of information disclosure (via expanding the definition of “classified communications”) as well as increasing penalties for such offenses (such as doubling the maximum prison term for such disclosure). Although the Journal Sentinel did not report much congressional support for the bill as amended, that will be revealed in the next week or so when the amended bill hits the floor. Because the first two Kyl amendments were too draconian relative to the status quo of restricted communications, they were voted down in the Senate. Perhaps Kyl’s third try will be modest enough (adding only three groups of congressional reports) to obtain a simple majority (given the congressional emphasis on national security), but it is unlikely that the House will agree on the same provisions because the sentiment there is somewhat more populist and therefore in favor of a shift away from the high-security status quo but towards fewer classifications of communications, not more.