Last week the Department of State reported to Congress on implementation of
the international Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public
Officials.  This Convention is "a principal weapon for combating a
particularly damaging form of corruption," U.S. officials said.

"Bribery and other forms of corruption impede governments in their efforts
to deliver basic services to their citizens; they undermine the confidence
of people in democracy; and, they are all too often linked with transborder
criminal activity, including drug trafficking, organized crime and money
laundering," said Assistant Secretary of State E. Anthony Wayne.  See:

        http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2000/06/000629bribery.htm

At the same time, however, Congress is preparing to pass legislation that
will *exempt* U.S. intelligence agencies from the standards and constraints
imposed by this kind of international convention.  Section 305 of the
Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2001 states that future laws
implementing such international agreements or treaties shall not apply to
U.S. intelligence unless Congress explicitly declares otherwise.

This conflict between intelligence and international law is considered in
the June 2000 issue of the Secrecy and Government Bulletin, here:

        http://www.fas.org/sgp/bulletin/sec84.html

An article in the July 2000 issue of Government Executive describes the
declassification review activities of the U.S. Army and the Central
Intelligence Agency.  The article, entitled "Assault on the Mountain" by
Joshua Dean, is posted here:

        http://www.govexec.com/features/0700/0700s3.htm

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___________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
http://www.fas.org/sgp/index.html