'State Secrets' Privilege Not So Rare

In fact, it has been used over 60 ¬times since its creation in the 1950s.
The state secrets privilege is a series of U.S. legal precedents allowing the federal government to dismiss legal cases that it claims would threaten foreign policy, military intelligence or national security.
A relic of the Cold War with the then-Soviet Union, it has been invoked several times since the Sep. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Judges have denied the privilege on only five occasions.
It was used against Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator, who was fired in retaliation for reporting security breaches and possible espionage within the Bureau. Lower courts dismissed the case when former Attorney-General John Ashcroft invoked the state secrets privilege.