THE PRICE OF SECRECY

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By William Fisher (about the author) Page 1 of 2 page(s)

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For OpEdNews: William Fisher - Writer

During 2004, the Bush Administration issued more secret court orders, spent $148 creating new classified documents for every $1 spent releasing old ones, invoked the 'state secrets' privilege in court cases more frequently than ever before, and received 25 per cent more requests for documents under the Freedom of Information Act.

These are among the findings of a new Secrecy Report Card prepared by
OpenTheGovernment.org, a coalition of organizations dedicated to lifting the shroud of secrecy from local, state and federal governments.

The report, written by Rick Blum, the organization's director, charges that Secrecy continues to expand across a broad spectrum of activities. Openness in our government and society is increasingly threatened. A keystone value of our democracy, openness more practically helps root out abuse of power, bad decisions or embarrassing facts that may put lives at risk.

Among such embarrassing facts is that the military gave U.S. troops in Iraq body armor vests that failed ballistics tests. Documented by reports obtained under the federal Freedom of Information act (FOIA), this decision was reversed and the body armor recalled once the story was about to hit the newsstands, the report says.

The report reveals that in 2004:

The secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court a key tool in the application of the USA Patriot Act -- approved 1,754 orders and rejected none. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) must request such a court order before it can place anyone in the U.S. under surveillance, but since its founding in 1978 it has denied only four such requests.

For every $1 the federal government spent releasing old secrets, it spent $148 creating new ones -- a $28 jump from 2003. In contrast, from 1997 to 2001, the government spent less than $20 per year keeping secrets for every dollar spent declassifying them.

The government spent $7.2 billion securing classified information, more than any annual cost in at least a decade. With 15.6 million new documents stamped 'secret' in fiscal year 2004, the government created 81 percent more secrets than it did in the year prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The government spent $460 to secure each of its classified documents, in addition to the cost of maintaining its accumulated secrets.

Nearly two-thirds of the 7,045 meetings of federal advisory committees that fall under the Federal Advisory Committee Act were completely closed to the public, undermining one purpose of the law.

The public made 4,080,737 requests for documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) -- a 25 percent jump in overall requests from the previous year, despite only a 5 percent rise (to $336.8 million) in spending on FOIA. Of the roughly 90 agencies surveyed by the Department of Justice, 84 per cent were unable to keep up with FOIA requests they received.

To reduce their caseloads, agencies may be denying more requests on technicalities than they have in the past or are waiving fees less often. One public interest group, the People For the American Way, was told its request for documents about people detained as part of government anti-terrorism efforts would cost the group nearly $400,000.

The state secrets privilege, which allows a sitting U.S. president to withhold documents from the courts, Congress and the public, was used only four times between 1953 and 1976 but, since 2001, has been used 23 times -- 33 times more often than during the height of the Cold War.

At least 62 new state laws expanded secrecy in 2004 while only 38 strengthened open government.

The government now uses at least 50 types of designations to restrict unclassified information deemed sensitive but unclassified. Many of these numerous terms are duplicative, vague, and endanger the protection of necessary secrets by allowing excessive secrecy to prevail in our open society.

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http://billfisher.blogspot.com

William Fisher has managed economic development programs in the Middle East and elsewhere for the US State Department and the US Agency for International Development. He served in the international affairs area in the Kennedy Administration and now (more...)

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