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from a group of historians and researchers regarding agency classification activity which has resulted in a number of historical documents being withdrawn from the open shelves at the National Archives and Records Administration" has initiated several actions. Continue reading
Secret reclassification of US documents
As part of a secret operation in place for over seven years, over 55,000 documents have been removed from the National Archives by various intelligence agencies. Historians are baffled as to why some of these documents would be reclassified. Others, for sure, are meant to expunge embarrassing moments. Here's a sampling of removed documents from an article in the New York Times, "U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review" :
* a memorandum on a C.I.A. scheme to float balloons over countries behind the Iron Curtain and drop propaganda leaflets. It was reclassified in 2001 even though it had been published by the State Department in 1996. * a 1962 telegram from George F. Kennan, then ambassador to Yugoslavia, containing an English translation of a Belgrade newspaper article on China's nuclear weapons program. * the C.I.A.'s assessment on Oct. 12, 1950, that Chinese intervention in the Korean War was "not probable in 1950." Just two weeks later, on Oct. 27, some 300,000 Chinese troops crossed into Korea.All of this raises the question, What's a clandestinely inclined government to do when rogue reclassified documents reside in privately held collections? Let's see - eighteen such documents, from the collection of intelligence historian Matthew Aid, are now up on the website of the National Security Archive, a research group at George Washington University. Continue reading
Using FOIA to locate UFOs
One of the more unusual uses of the Federal Freedom Information Act that I have run across is the Coalition for Freedom of Information's (CFI) effort to obtain UFO related records from NASA and the Air Force. Despite being related to UFOs, the page linked above has fairly rational sounding FOIA requests and gives details of NASA responses. While I haven't verified their claims, their back and forth with NASA illustrates the difficulties of using FOIA to obtain material on obscure government activities. CFI isn't your typical tin-foil basement UFO group either. According to items I've run across they have links to former Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta and the SciFi Channel. Free Government Information takes no stand on UFOs, but supports the efforts of the public to find out how the government has investigated this phenomena. Continue reading
Open government on the ropes?
Senator May Seek Tougher Law on Leaks (Washington Post. Go to BugMeNot for anonymous log-in information) Pat Roberts (R-Kan), Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said that, in an effort to curb leaks, he "may add language to the fiscal 2007 intelligence authorization bill to criminalize the leaking of a wider range of classified information than is now covered by law." Civil liberties groups and news organizations have argued that the legislation would further restrict their ability to get information from officials. With more government documents being classified than ever before (see this FGI blog post and Secrecy News), this legislation (similar legislation was vetoed by President Clinton) will be a powerful 1-2 punch that could knock out open government! Earlier today, James mentioned a quote by philosopher Sissela Bok in a post about the 1956 Coolidge Committee Report. Bok really hit the nail on the head by pointing out that more secrecy, more classification, and stricter laws against leaks are simply a spiral away from open government, away from our democratic ideals:
"...as government secrecy expands, more public officials become privy to classified information and are faced with the choice of whether or not to leak ... growing secrecy likewise causes reporters to press harder from the outside to uncover what is hidden. And then in a vicious circle, the increased revelations give government leaders further reasons to press for still more secrecy. --Sissela Bok, Secrets. New York: Vintage Books, 1989, p. 184 and 248.Continue reading
Help save SIPP from the budget axe
The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is slated for the chopping block in the President's FY2007 budget. But you can help save it. Go to the Center for Economic and Policy Research's "Save SIPP" page to find out more about this important longitudinal survey that provides critical information on programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid, Social Security, and unemployment insurance, and "tracks health insurance coverage, and provides more in-depth information than other government survey on work-family issues, such as maternity leave, child care, and child support." Please email "openletter [at] ceprdata [dot] org" by March 1st to add your name/contact/affiliation to the petition letter that will be sent to all members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, the House Government Reform Committee, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, and the Secretary of Commerce and the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau. Continue reading