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Article: North Case Gives Secrets Act Unprecedented Test; Volume of Classified Documents Involved Heightens Problems in Ensuring a Fair Trial
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- February 15, 1989
- Author:
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Congress passed a law in 1980 designed to combat what its authors
described as the "growing problem of graymail"-the government's
unpalatable choice, in criminal cases involving classified
information, between risking disclosure of national security secrets
and being forced to drop the prosecution.
The law, the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA), set
out a series of rules to be followed in cases where those charged
with crimes seek to use classified information in their defense.
Now, in the case of former White House aide Oliver L. North, CIPA
is undergoing a test that Congress probably never envisioned.
First, unlike the normal espionage case in which a limited number
of ...