Is the irrationalsecrecy of the BushAdministrationdestroyingdemocracy?
Secrecy Watchdog Group Gives Poor Marks To Bush AdministrationBy Cliff MontgomeryA highly-regarded, non-partisan secrecy watchdog group has released its “Secrecy Report Card” for 2006, and gives the Bush Administration failing grades for unfounded, increased secrecy throughout the U.S. government.OpenTheGovernment.org declares itself to be “an unprecedented coalition of consumer and good government groups, librarians, environmentalists, labor, journalists, and others united to push back governmental secrecy and promote openness.””We are focused on making the federal government a more open place to make us safer, strengthen public trust in government, and support our democratic principles,” the group adds.What are its principal discoveries? We offer quotes from its “Secrecy Report Card” below:“OpenTheGovernment.org’s third annual report, Secrecy Report Card 2006, shows a continued expansion of government secrecy across a broad array of agencies and actions.”Every administration wants to control access to information about its policies and practices. Except in strictly limited and specified contexts, however, information created by or for the federal government belongs to the American public and should be open.”The current administration has exercised an unprecedented level of restriction of access to information about, and suppression of discussion of, the federal government’s policies and decisions.”This regulatory framework results in the circumscription of democracy and our representative government; neither the public nor Congress can make informed decisions in these circumstances. Our open society is undermined and made insecure.”Openness is not only a keystone value of our democracy, more practically it helps root out abuse of power, bad decisions or embarrassing facts that may put lives at risk.”For every dollar spent declassifying old secrets, federal agencies spent $134 in 2005 creating and storing new secrets. The serious imbalance between taxpayer dollars devoted to generating secrets versus those spent to release records that are no longer sensitive continues.”With 2,072 secret surveillance orders approved in 2005, federal surveillance activity under the jurisdiction of the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court more than doubled in five years.”Over 60 percent of federal advisory committee meetings in 2005 were completely closed to the public. More were partially closed. Such secrecy undermines one of the key purposes of the Federal Advisory Committee Act.”Since 2001, the “state secrets” privilege has been used a reported 22 times—an average in 5.5 years (4) that is close to twice as high as the previous 24 years (2.46).”In the 211 years of our Republic to 2000, fewer than 600 signing statements that took issue with [congressional] bills were issued. In five years, President Bush has issued at least 132, challenging 810 provisions of laws.”OpenTheGovernment.org’s Essential Findings:The Courts2,072 Orders of the Secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance CourtWhile the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court does not reveal much about its activities, the Department of Justice reported that the FISC approved 2,072 orders — rejecting none — in 2005 but does not identify the activities being investigated or provide basic information about how the orders are used.National Security Letters9,254 National Security Letters IssuedA Justice Department report on secret wiretap warrants indicated that the government issued 9,254 National Security Letters during 2005. These letters can be used to obtain information about individuals without the government applying for a court-reviewed warrant.Classified Documents$134 Spent Creating New Secrets for Every $1 Spent Releasing Old SecretsFor every $1 the federal government spent in 2005 releasing old secrets, it spent $134 creating new secrets. The good news is that is a $14 drop from 2004. To put this slight drop in context—from 1997 to 2001, the government spent less than $25 per year keeping secrets for every dollar spent declassifying them.Freedom of Information ActFOIA Requests Continue to Rise; Agencies Can’t Keep UpAdjusted for an abnormal increase in Social Security Administration numbers, the number of FOIA requests has increased by 65,543 requests since 2004. Agencies overall have been unable to keep up with the number of requests, with 43 percent more pending requests this year than in 2002.Used Rarely in Cold War, “State Secrets” Privilege Used At Least 22 Times Since 2001Reported Invocations Continue to RiseThe “state secrets” privilege allows the sitting U.S. president to nearly unilaterally withhold documents from the courts, Congress and the public. At the height of the Cold War, the administration used the privilege only 6 times between 1953 and 1976. Since 2001, it has been invoked a reported 22 times—an average in 5.5 years (4) that is close to twice as high as the previous 24 years (2.46).
