FBI Agent’s ALA Midwinter Talk “Censored”

Library Journal Academic Newswire reports that Bassem Youssef, the Chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) unit responsible for administering two warrantless search programs, who was scheduled to discuss "a number of critical failures within the FBI’s counterterrorism program undermining the basic Constitutional rights of American citizens and threatening the effectiveness of America’s counterterrorism effort" on Saturday, January 12, at the ALA’s Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia will now "only be allowed to answer selected questions."

The FBI cited "rules concerning prepublication clearance of any potential speech."  Youssef’s lawyer says that these "are not the formal rules", that the FBI has not previously published them or incorporated into  employment agreements, that they are secret, that they "constitute secret censorship requirements", and that  "Mr. Youssef is prevented from showing these rules to anyone outside the FBI."

• FBI Agent’s ALA Midwinter Talk "Censored." Library Journal Academic Newswire, January 10, 2008.

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