The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has revoked a three-year-old secrecy policy and plans to release documents from two nuclear fuel processing plants in response to congressional demands. This about-face was precipitated by a congressional inquiry into a uranium leak kept secret from the public for more than a year.

On Sept. 6, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that a controversial section of the USA PATRIOT Act is unconstitutional. In John Doe v. Gonzales, Judge Victor Morrerro ruled that the National Security Letter (NSL) provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act are in violation of the separation of powers doctrine and the First Amendment's protection of free speech.

According to a Sept. 5 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) second program to test and clean building interiors contaminated by toxins from the World Trade Center (WTC) collapse was a virtual failure. The program's problems stemmed from EPA's inadequate public notification and refusal to listen to its own science experts. The GAO report also indicated that EPA was reluctant to accept cleanup responsibility according to expert recommendations. The result was a limited program grossly underutilized by the public.