The classified information, usually from the FBI, is shared with judges, but withheld from the accused and their lawyers. Lately the rarely used provision has fallen most heavily on Arabs, and their advocates told the Post that this is no coincidence. Government officials maintain that no group is being singled out unfairly, but say there is evidence Muslim organizations in the United States have been used to raise funds for militant groups, such as Islamic Jihad and Hamas, that oppose the Arab-Israeli peace process and whose military wings have claimed responsibility for a number of bombings against civilian targets in Israel. Secret evidence also was introduced in at least two of six immigration cases involving members of the Irish Republican Army, but Attorney General Janet Reno last month suspended those cases after the State Department suggested that pursuing them could disrupt the peace process in Northern Ireland. The American Civil Liberties Union and Arab-American groups are challenging the INS policy, and both sides say they expect the issue eventually to reach the Supreme Court.
Critics argue that the use of secret evidence for any purpose ought to be illegal.
Secret evidence simply cannot be squared with the basic requirements of due process. In August, two years after requesting the pages under the Freedom of Information Act, the FBI produced them. They were clippings from Tampa newspapers.