The Office of Homeland Security was formed last week when the US Senate passed a bill which defined the financial, organizational, and legal details of the Office.
While the more visible aspects of the new department, especially the Total Information Awareness program, have been criticized heavily by supporters of the protection of civil liberties, problems with the Homeland Security Act are still being revealed.
Special-interest bonuses such as corporate protection are surprising to find in a piece of legislation creating a new federal department whose stated purpose is to protect America from terrorist attacks. But these clauses are can be found in abundance in the 449 pages added to the bill in its journey from the House to the Senate.
The act grants FOIA exemption to documents volantarily sumbitted by corporations to the Office of Homeland Security. The Freedom of Information Act, already reduced in power by Attorney General John Ashcroft earlier this year, is a potentially powerful tool that allows researchers to request copies of government documents without having to travel to the National Archives located in Washington, DC. The Homeland Security Act, however, effectively exempts a large portion of Homeland Security documents from previous FOIA requirements.
Another clause in the bill grants liability protection to corporations which are currently involved in class action lawsuits regarding the safety of their products. One of these companies, pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co., benefits greatly from this provision. Eli Lilly and several other pharmaceuticals have been served a class action lawsuit by a group of parents contending that Thimerasol, an additive in vaccines provided by these corporations, led to autism in their children. News that the Homeland Security bill included liability protection for these companies incited the outrage of parents of autistic children.
Even more interesting, yet tragically unsurprising, is the news that Sidney Taurel, president and CEO of Eli Lilly, was appointed by Bush last June to sit on the Homeland Security Advisory Council.
for more information see the OMB Watch Homeland Security Act Resource Page.
