ABA and OMB Watch on “Sensitive but Unclassified” Information

OMB Watch has information covering a recent American Bar Association (ABA) report on information that governments deem “sensitive but unclassified.”

• Report [to] The House Of Delegates, Eleanor D. Kinney Chair, [ABA] Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice, February 2006.
• Sensitive But Unclassified Info: You Can’t Have It. Why? Because They Say So, OMB Watch, 02/22/2006.

The explosion in the use by federal agencies of Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) designations to withhold information since the 9/11 terrorist attacks has resulted in uneven policies across agencies and unnecessary restrictions on public access to information, according to a recent American Bar Association report.”

OMB Watch also has a paper, Background on Sensitive But Unclassified Information.

Update (2/26/2006):

Press Release, February 22, 2006, The National Archives Responds to Reclassification of Documents

NARA, “in response to complaints and recommendations received from a group of historians and researchers regarding agency classification activity which has resulted in a number of historical documents being withdrawn from the open shelves at the National Archives and Records Administration” has initiated several actions.

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