Pentagon revising computer-snooping policy

Search-and-seizure warnings prompted outcry from military attorneys obligated to protect client communications.

7 Jan 2008

By: TERI FIGUEROA - Staff Writer

A warning to users of military computers that government agents could seize -- without cause or a warrant -- anything found on the machines is now under revision, the top legal adviser in the Marine Corps said this week.

"The key aspect of the revision is to make certain that we maintain the protections of privileged communications" within the Marine Corps and the Department of Defense, staff Judge Advocate Brig. Gen. James Walker said this week in a telephone interview from his Pentagon office. "It is a problem, and I honestly think it is going to be fixed."

The warning, which appeared on all military computers as the user booted up the machine, raised eyebrows shortly after it was posted on all Marine Corps computers in early December. For a few weeks, the first words on the screens of military computer users when they started the machines stated that law enforcement agents could search and seize whatever they desire ---- for any reason or none at all.

Marine Corps lawyers representing defendants in the military justice system, including Marines facing war crimes trials in the deaths of Iraqis, said a policy that allowed the government to read their correspondence and see their work jeopardized the attorney-client privilege central to a providing a full defense.

A November memo from the Pentagon detailing the new policy stated that privileged communications remain protected from search and seizure.

That piece of information, however, did not appear on the warnings that showed up on the computer screens.

The policy "is not intended to negate any privilege recognized by law," Maj. Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for the office of the secretary of defense, wrote in an e-mail Thursday to the North County Times.

Ryder also noted that the proposed policy "does not seek to broaden" the Pentagon's authority over searching and seizing any information found on military computers. Instead, Ryder wrote, the purpose of the new policy was twofold: to clarify the old policy that allowed for search and some authorized seizures, and to make the warning language standard throughout all military branches.

"In general terms, the main difference in the two user consent banners is that the updated version seeks to make it clearer to users what they are consenting to when they use a DoD (Department of Defense) computer," Ryder wrote.

But there remains a problem with the revised banner warnings that appeared on the computers last month. Ryder said one of the services brought up a concern with the banner warning and it was pulled until that concern -- which Ryder declined to define -- could be resolved.

On Wednesday, Walker said the banner on computer screens came down late last week....

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