The Federation of American Scientists, a staunch advocate of government openness, said Thursday it had yanked about 200 of its estimated half-million Web pages since Sept. 11 terror attacks killed some 5,500 people in the United States.
The federation"s site, https://www.fas.org, contains one of the Web"s biggest archives of national security-related material, including detailed rundowns on U.S. weapons systems, spy satellites and nuclear plants.
U.S. government departments and agencies, meanwhile, have stripped a wide range of documents from Web sites because of perceived threats to such critical systems as pipelines, water supply stations and power plants.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, for instance, took down its entire Web site on Thursday to review its content for "information that might be useful to adversaries," said spokeswoman Rosetta Virgilio.
At the Defense Department, the armed forces and specialized agencies "probably are reviewing material (on their Web sites) as we speak," said Pentagon spokesman Glenn Flood. "Everything is sort of a little different than before Sept. 11."
The EPA has dismantled its risk management Web site, which contains general information about emergency plans and chemicals used at 15,000 sites nationwide.