Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2002 14:10:49 -0400
Message-Id: <200207251810.OAA04753@telekinesis.mit.edu>
From: belmonte@MIT.EDU (Matthew Belmonte)
To: CapuanoHR8@aol.com (Mike Capuano)
Subject: oppose HR 5005

I hope that you'll oppose HR 5005, the Homeland Security Act.  In creating yet
another cabinet department, this bill would needlessly expand the federal
bureaucracy and reify the country's recent, impulsive moves towards expanded
police powers and gutted civil liberties.

The Act would also create an unduly broad exemption to the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA).  The FOIA exemption would not be limited to requests
for information whose misuse could harm critical infrastructure.  It would
preempt state laws on open government, and it would would criminalise leaks of
information that pertains to critical infrastructure.

Again, I hope that you'll vote against HR 5005, the Homeland Security Act.  I
look forward to reading your views on this important matter.

Matthew Belmonte
[address]