Latest news with #stateSecrets
South China Morning Post
26-05-2025
- South China Morning Post
China's former state employees warned not to leak classified information
China's top intelligence agency has warned all former state employees with access to sensitive information to be aware of the risks of leaking state secrets In a social media post on Monday, the Ministry of State Security said managing these workers after they retired or left their jobs was 'not a private affair but a vital component of national security'. It called for vigilance against such risks to ensure information security. 'Some individuals, after leaving their positions, disregard national security and interests, misinterpret the declassification period as a restriction of freedom or a career shackle, and even go into hiding or evade supervision,' the ministry said. It cited a case involving a person, identified only by his surname Feng, who was sentenced to six years in prison for leaking state secrets after retiring from his job at a state-owned enterprise. 05:29 China executes scientist for spying in 2016, among 10 'shocking' cases revealed in documentary China executes scientist for spying in 2016, among 10 'shocking' cases revealed in documentary The ministry said Feng had been lured by a foreign espionage agency that offered him a substantial 'consulting fee'. It said Feng had maintained close ties with his former colleagues at the company and was able to gain access to core classified information in a critical industry sector.
CBS News
17-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Family pleads for answers on Kilmar Abrego Garcia's detention in El Salvador
Hundreds of people turned out at the US District Court House today to show support for bringing Kilmar Abrego Garcia home. Cameras were not allowed inside the courtroom, but plaintiffs representing Kilmar Abrego Garcia said once again, they are simply seeking answers to three questions: Where is Kilmar Abrego Garcia right now? What has been done to facilitate his return? What plans are in place to facilitate his return? But the government says they are limited in what they can say, citing concerns over threats to national security and diplomatic relations. Earlier this month, the trump administration invoked the state secrets privilege to explain the lack of explanation that has been released so far. WJZ caught up with Ama Frimpong with CASA after the hearing, where she offered her thoughts on what happened inside. "They have no proof. They're not explaining how and why those things should be considered privileged. So, the judge said basically, you're asking me to take your word for it, and that's not how this works," Frimpong said. Attorneys for the government said they have provided information to the plaintiffs to explain those answers, but they "want more". However, Judge Xinis said, according to the affidavit she has received, there is not enough information provided to meet the threshold of the state secrets privilege. She offered them an opportunity to supplement their affidavit and return at a later date, to which the plaintiffs remind the court, "a life is in the balance,"—adding Abrego Garcia is in danger each day he sits in an El Salvador prison. "Do not tell us that he's alive, well, healthy, out on weight…let him talk to his family. Let him talk to his lawyers. Release him from prison and bring him home. That's what we're looking for, that's what justice looks like, and that's what we will continue fighting for," Frimpong added. The court adjourned to the public at about 4:00 p.m. so the attorneys and judge could discuss some sealed information behind closed doors. However, the judge is expected to make a decision early next week.
CTV News
16-05-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
U.S. claim of state secrets privilege in Kilmar Abrego Garcia case is ‘inadequate,' judge says
The Trump administration deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, shown in an undated photo, from Maryland to El Salvador in March. (Murray Osorio PLLC via AP) GREENBELT, Md. — A federal judge told the Trump administration Friday that its explanation for invoking the state secrets privilege in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case is inadequate, describing the government's reasoning for withholding information as 'take my word for it.' Trump administration attorneys have argued that releasing details in open court — or even to the judge in private – about its efforts to return Abrego Garcia to the United States would jeopardize national security. But U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland said she was at a loss for how she can independently determine the nature of the government's concerns with the information it provided. 'There's simply no details,' she said. 'This is basically 'take my word for it.'' Xinis said the administration needs to 'do a little bit more to show its work' on why it believes the state secrets privilege applies. 'It doesn't have to be super detailed, but it has to give me something,' she said. Jonathan Guynn, a Justice Department attorney, said he understood her concerns but disagreed that the government's arguments were inadequate. He also said there's no need for the judge to review the information herself to make a determination on threats to national security. 'We think we've provided significant information,' Guynn said. Xinis had ordered Abrego Garcia's return from El Salvador in April and has since directed the administration to provide documents and testimony showing what it has done, if anything, to comply. Trump administration lawyers claim many of those details are protected, including sensitive diplomatic negotiations. Revealing the specifics would harm national security because foreign governments 'would be less likely to work cooperatively with the United States,' they argued earlier in a brief to the court. Abrego Garcia's lawyers contend the administration hasn't shown 'the slightest effort' toward retrieving him after his mistaken deportation. And they point to U.S. President Donald Trump's interview last month with ABC News, in which he said he could bring Abrego Garcia back but won't. 'Even as the Government speaks freely about Abrego Garcia in public, in this litigation it insists on secrecy,' Abrego Garcia's lawyers wrote to the court. The focus of Friday's hearing is a legal doctrine that is more often used in cases involving the military and spy agencies. Xinis's ruling could impact the central question looming over the case: Has the Trump administration followed her order to bring back Abrego Garcia? The Trump administration deported the Maryland construction worker to El Salvador in March. The expulsion violated a U.S. immigration judge's order in 2019 that shielded Abrego Garcia from deportation to his native country because he faced likely persecution by a local gang that had terrorized his family. Abrego Garcia's American wife sued, and Xinis ordered his return on April 4. The Supreme Court ruled on April 10 that the administration must work to bring him back. Xinis later lambasted the administration for failing to explain what it has done to retrieve him and instructed the government to prove it was following her order. The Trump administration appealed, but the appeals court backed Xinis in a blistering order. The debate over state secrets privilege is the latest development in the case. In a legal brief filed Monday, Trump administration attorneys said they provided extensive information, including 1,027 pages of documents, to show they're following the judge's order. They argued that Abrego Garcia's legal team is now 'attempting to pry into the privileged inner workings of the U.S. government apparatus and its communications with a foreign government.' 'Nearly all the additional materials Plaintiffs demand are protected by the state secrets and deliberative process privileges and so cannot be produced,' U.S. attorneys wrote. In their brief, Abrego Garcia's attorneys urged the judge to be skeptical, writing that the state secrets privilege 'is not for hiding governmental blunders or malfeasance.' Abrego Garcia's lawyers noted that U.S. attorneys claim in court to be following Xinis's order, while 'senior officials from the President on down were saying precisely the opposite to the American public.' For example, they cited an April 16 statement from Attorney General Pam Bondi, who said, 'He is not coming back to our country.' 'Over and over again, official statements by the Government — in congressional testimony, television interviews, and social media — confirm that producing this information would not imperil national security,' Abrego Garcia's attorneys wrote. The hearing is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. in federal court in Greenbelt. Trump administration officials have said Abrego Garcia was deported based on a 2019 accusation from Maryland police that he was an MS-13 gang member. Abrego Garcia denied the allegation and was never charged with a crime, his attorneys said. The administration later acknowledged that Abrego Garcia's deportation to El Salvador was " an administrative error ' because of the immigration judge's 2019 order. But Trump and others have continued to insist that Abrego Garcia was in MS-13. —— Finley reported from Norfolk, Va. Article written by Michael Kunzelman and Ben Finley, The Associated Press
CBS News
13-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Abrego Garcia's attorneys say Trump administration has "stonewalled" in facilitating his release
Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who the Trump administration admitted was mistakenly included in a group of accused gang members sent to a prison in El Salvador, accused the government of having "stonewalled" the court-ordered facilitation of his return to the U.S. "Plaintiffs have sought discovery to uncover the truth as to the Government's efforts (or lack thereof) as well as its abilities to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return—the essential issue in this case. Over and over, the Government has stonewalled Plaintiffs by asserting unsupported privileges— primarily state secrets and deliberative process—to withhold written discovery and to instruct witnesses not to answer even basic questions," the filing, published late Monday, says. "Even as the Government speaks freely about Abrego Garcia in public, in this litigation it insists on secrecy." U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered in April that the government must facilitate his release, a ruling that has been upheld by the Supreme Court. Last week, the Trump administration appears to have invoked the state secrets privilege and other privileges to withhold information in the case from Abrego Garcia's attorneys as they continue to seek his release. The Justice Department had indicated last month that it would invoke certain privileges to protect information regarding Abrego Garcia's removal from the U.S., citing in a filing the attorney-client privilege, state secrets privilege and certain executive privileges. The government's response to the allegations of stonewalling and their invocation of privilege were filed under seal with the court. Abrego Garcia's attorneys said there is "little reason to believe" that invoking the state secrets privilege is appropriate in this case. "No military or intelligence operations are involved, and it defies reason to imagine that the United States' relationship with El Salvador would be endangered by any effort to seek the return of a wrongfully deported person who the Government admits never should have been removed to El Salvador in the first place," Abrego Garcia's attorneys wrote. Xinis has set a hearing for May 16 to hear further arguments about the government's privilege invocations, as well as to hear arguments from Abrego Garcia's attorneys on their desire for more fact-finding in the case. Xinis told a Justice Department attorney during a hearing last month that if the Trump administration does assert privileges, justifications must be provided for each claim, and she will make a determination as to whether they can stand. The Trump administration has invoked the state secrets privilege before, in a case involving the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to the Salvadoran prison, called the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, under war powers In Abrego Garcia's case, Xinis had ordered the Trump administration to turn over documents to his lawyers and allowed them to conduct depositions with certain administration officials. Some of the records were initially due last month, but Xinis agreed to push back her deadlines after the Trump administration filed information with the court under seal. One day earlier, Xinis had accused the administration of showing a "willful and bad faith refusal to comply with discovery obligations." Abrego Garcia's attorneys wrote that all depositions were completed by the end of last week, but said they are not satisfied with the answers they have received. President Trump and other top administration officials have repeatedly said it is up to El Salvador whether to release Abrego Garcia, who had been held at CECOT. As of April 21, he was being held at a lower-security facility in Santa Ana, according to a declaration from a State Department official. Abrego Garcia, who was born in El Salvador, entered the U.S. illegally in 2011 and has been living in Maryland since then. He was granted a withholding of removal, a legal status, in 2019 that prevented the government from deporting him back to his home country of El Salvador because of a risk of persecution by local gangs. But Abrego Garcia was among the hundreds of migrants, mostly Venezuelans, sent by the Trump administration to CECOT in March. "The Court should reject the Government's efforts to hide behind the state secrets privilege and compel all Defendants from DHS and DOJ to fully respond to written discovery and all deponents from those departments to fully answer deposition questions," the attorneys wrote to Judge Xinis, adding later that "the state secrets privilege is not for hiding governmental blunders or malfeasance."
CBS News
08-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Trump administration invokes state secrets privilege in Kilmar Abrego Garcia case
What to know about Trump saying he could get Abrego Garcia back from El Salvador Washington — The Trump administration appears to have invoked the state secrets privilege to withhold information in the case involving the mistaken removal of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador and any efforts by the Trump administration to return him to the United States. The administration's assertion of the privilege was revealed in an order from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, which asked lawyers for Abrego Garcia and the Justice Department to file additional legal papers about the administration's "invocations of privilege, principally the state secrets and deliberative process privileges." Xinis gave the two sides until Monday to submit the filings "addressing the legal and factual bases for the invocation of those privileges," including a request from Abrego Garcia's lawyers for the court to conduct a review of "the withheld documents." The judge also set a hearing for May 16 at the courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Justice Department had indicated last month that it would invoke certain privileges to protect information regarding Abrego Garcia's removal from the U.S., citing in a filing the attorney-client privilege, state secrets privilege and certain executive privileges. Administration lawyers had said that a request for documents from Abrego Garcia's legal team about the terms of any arrangement regarding the government's use of El Salvador's notorious prison to house deportees from the U.S. "calls for the immediate production of classified documents, as well as documents that defendants may elect to assert are subject to the protections of attorney-client privilege and the state secrets privilege." Xinis told a lawyer with the administration during a hearing last month that if they do assert privileges, they must provide justifications for each claim, and she will make a determination as to whether they can stand. The Trump administration has invoked the state secrets privilege before, in a case involving the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to the Salvadoran prison, called the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT. In Abrego Garcia's case, Xinis had ordered the Trump administration to turn over documents to his lawyers and allowed them to conduct depositions with certain administration officials. Some of the records were initially due last month, but Xinis agreed to push back her deadlines after the Trump administration filed information with the court under seal. One day earlier, Xinis had accused the administration of showing a "willful and bad faith refusal to comply with discovery obligations." Under the judge's latest order, the Trump administration had until Monday to answer and respond to outstanding discovery requests and provide information about their invocation of privileges. Depositions of four Homeland Security and State Department officials are to be completed by Friday, according to the order. Xinis allowed the expedited discovery process to begin last month after Abrego Garcia's legal team accused the Trump administration of failing to follow her order to facilitate his return to the U.S. The Supreme Court had agreed that the administration had to facilitate Abrego Garcia's release from Salvadoran custody and "ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador." President Trump and other top administration officials have repeatedly said it is up to El Salvador whether to release Abrego Garcia, who had been held at CECOT. As of April 21, he was being held at a lower-security facility in Santa Ana, according to a declaration from a State Department official. Abrego Garcia, who was born in El Salvador, entered the U.S. illegally in 2011 and has been living in Maryland since then. He was granted a withholding of removal, a legal status, in 2019 that prevented the government from deporting him back to his home country of El Salvador because of a risk of persecution by local gangs. But Abrego Garcia was among the hundreds of migrants sent by the Trump administration to CECOT in March. A federal immigration official acknowledged that his removal to El Salvador was an "administrative error," but the administration has since declined to return him to the U.S. Instead, top administration officials have claimed Abrego Garcia is a member of the gang MS-13, citing allegations from a confidential informant. His lawyers, however, argue that Abrego Garcia is not a member of MS-13 or any other gang, and has never been charged or convicted of any crimes in the U.S., El Salvador or any other country.
