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(7) Requiring the attorney general and director of national intelligence (DNI) to report to Congress on improving procedures governing leak investigations.
(8) Punishing unauthorized leakers by rescinding their federal pension benefits.
(9) Prohibiting security clearances for unauthorized leakers.
The Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) calls the measure dangerous and "sloppily" written. It goes way beyond stopping classified information leaks. Passage will enact a new layer of secrecy and coverup. The bill's problems are "extensive and severe."
A New York Times editorial called it "A Pernicious Drive Toward Secrecy," saying:
"(M)misguided legislation".would severely chill news coverage of national security issues. Drafted in secret without public hearings," enactment will undermine democracy.
Debate on vital issues will be compromised. Issues like government spying, torture, and war won't be discussed.
Whistleblowers will be targeted more than now. Discussing truths too important to conceal will be compromised. Mostly unclassified information is affected.
The measure "draws no distinction between information that is properly classified and the vast pile of information that poses no national risk but has been deemed secret thanks only to a dysfunctional system of over-classification of government documents."
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