Bruce Craig reports on the release of a volume of the Foreign Relations of the United States (Foreign Relations, 1964-1968, Volume XXIX, Part 2, Japan, Editor: Karen L. Gatz, General Editor: Edward C. Keefer, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, 2006, DEPARTMENT OF STATE PUBLICATION 11321).

• Controversial FRUS Volume on Japan Finally Published, Bruce Craig, writing in the newsletter of the Coalition for History (8-24-06).

What makes this volume unique is that it has been nearly ready for publication for over seven years, but owing to a handful of controversial documents relating to covert operations in Japan that for years intelligence screeners would not permit the HO to include in the volume, PART 2 JAPAN is only now seeing the light of day...but minus the intelligence agency covert operations documentation. One of the first things a reader of this volume will notice as different is the inclusion of not only the usual "Preface" but also a "Note on U.S. Covert Actions" and an "Editor's Note" posted at the beginning of the volume. Collectively, the preface and these notices serve, in essence, as disclaimers for the HO. ... Though readers of this particular FRUS volume are being denied access to the raw documentation by intelligence agencies and there is not the level of detail that one would characteristically expect to see in a volume in the FRUS series, the HO asserts it is not permitting history to be entirely rewritten because of deletions. Nevertheless, one source inside State views the volume as being "minimally acceptable" in terms of meeting FRUS legislative directives. One does wonder, however, whether the JAPAN volume is merely an anomaly, or is this practice expected to be employed more frequently in future FRUS releases in order to sidestep CIA and other intelligence agency objections.

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CNet News.com reports that surveillance of Americans by the federal government has steadily increased; that spending on securing classified information has increased to $7.7 billion; and that new justifications for not releasing unclassified government documents to the public are proliferating. None of this is good news for advocates of open government and the freedom to read.

• Post-9/11 privacy and secrecy: A report card By Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache, CNet News.com, September 8, 2006

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I know I'm a couple of days late this month, but as you may have noticed, we've had some technical difficulties in the last few days. I'm hopeful that I've ironed them all out and we can get back to business. So, thanks Peggy garvin for being our blogger-of-the-month for August! peggy did a great job. See the list of her posts below if you missed any of them. And ... Welcome Kris Kasianovitz to the podium (see Kris' bio). Kris comes to us from UCLA. We can't wait to read what's on Kris' mind. Take it away KK!! And just a reminder: If anyone's interested in taking a turn as FGI blogger, please email us at admin AT freegovinfo DOT info.

• Congressional Recess and You
• Two from BeSpacific
• Column on Government Documents and the news
• GovMine on the subway
• Oen Govt Guide -- New edition posted
• Harris Corp gets FDSys contract
• Lunch with a lobbyist
• USDOT and Transpo libraries -- comments on strategic plan

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Kris Kasianovitz is our BOTM for September, 2006. She comes to us from UCLA where she's the Librarian for State, Local and Canadian Government Information, NGOs at UCLA's Research Library. She likes sleeping, snowboarding, and surfing ... oh and books too. :-) Continue reading →

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The week’s “not just blogs” installment will highlight the Privacy page of our Issues section. From the front page of Free Government Information, click on Issues: Then on Privacy. Citizens’ rights to access government information cannot be achieved without the guarantee of privacy. The issue of privacy is of extreme importance to us here at FGI, which is why we frequently stress its importance in our writing or blog posts. The essay on privacy is quite a short read and discusses privacy in the context of the physical depository library, the library’s Web site, and privacy while accessing a government agency’s site or downloading a document from said agency. There is also a link to a longer, more in-depth expose of the issue from a panel presentation that James R. Jacobs gave at the 2005 annual Nevada Library Association conference. We hope you'll visit our Privacy page to learn more about this issue, and mull over its intricacies and implications. We’d appreciate comments or suggestions for additions to the bibliography of web resources, books and articles dealing with privacy. Continue reading →

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