Recently, Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) introduced S. 2533, the “State Secrets Protection Act.” The state secrets privilege allows the executive branch to block discovery in civil litigation when the government believes that there is an unacceptable risk of disclosure of sensitive national security secrets. The intent of the legislation is to provide guidance to federal courts in handling assertions of the privilege in civil cases, and to prevent the government from using the privilege to withhold evidence that is not actually sensitive in nature.