Government Secrecy Is Too Much Information Kept from the Public?
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Researcher Published by CQ Press, a division of Congressional Quarterly Inc. CQ thecqresearcher.com Government Secrecy Is too much information kept from the public? resident Bush says he believes in open government, but critics say his administration has gone to unusual lengths to control and limit access to information. Government restrictions on information increased Pdramatically after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The adminis- tration says homeland security concerns justify clamping down on public access to information, but open-government advocates say the policies dampen public debate, diminish government account- ability and actually hamper efforts to protect the United States. The remains of a soldier killed in Iraq arrive back in the United States. After resisting, the Defense Department finally released hundreds of Many of the secrecy disputes have spawned court fights, most of photos of such ceremonies in April 2005 but obscured the faces and insignias of honor guards. them won by the administration. Courts also have generally ap- peared uninterested in enforcing the federal Freedom of Informa- I tion Act, prompting some in Congress to try to strengthen the N 1966 law. Without it, they argue, such scandals as the abuse of THIS REPORT S detainees held by the United States at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib THE ISSUES ....................1007 I BACKGROUND ................1013 prison might never have come to light. D CHRONOLOGY ................1015 E CURRENT SITUATION ........1019 The CQ Researcher • Dec. 2, 2005 • www.thecqresearcher.com AT ISSUE ........................1021 Volume 15, Number 42 • Pages 1005-1028 OUTLOOK ......................1023 RECIPIENT OF SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS AWARD FOR BIBLIOGRAPHY ................1026 EXCELLENCE N AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SILVER GAVEL AWARD THE NEXT STEP ..............1027 GOVERNMENT SECRECY CQ Researcher Dec. 2, 2005 THE ISSUES SIDEBARS AND GRAPHICS Volume 15, Number 42 • Should the government More ‘Secret’ Documents MANAGING EDITOR: Thomas J. Colin 1007 classify less information as 1008 Are Being Created secret? The federal government cre- ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR: Kathy Koch • Has the Bush adminis- ated 15.6 million secret docu- ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Kenneth Jost ments in 2004. tration misused govern- STAFF WRITERS: Marcia Clemmitt, Peter Katel, ment secrecy? FOIA Requests Doubled Pamela M. Prah • Should Congress make it 1009 Public requests for information CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Rachel Cox, easier to obtain government hit a new high in 2004. Sarah Glazer, David Hosansky, records? Patrick Marshall, Tom Price Using the Freedom of DESIGN/PRODUCTION EDITOR: Olu B. Davis BACKGROUND 1012 Information Act Nine types of information are ASSISTANT EDITOR: Melissa J. Hipolit Competing Imperatives exempt from disclosure. 1013 As officials sought more secrecy, the public expect- 1015 Chronology ed more information. Key events since 1966. The Outing of CIA Agent Shifting Views 1016 Valerie Plame 1014 Despite open-government A Division of Critics say the administration Congressional Quarterly Inc. laws, access to information uses leaks to punish politi- was often incomplete. cal enemies. SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT/GENERAL MANAGER: John A. Jenkins Whistleblowers Silenced Increasing Secrecy DIRECTOR, LIBRARY PUBLISHING: Kathryn C. Suárez 1018 After the 9/11 terrorist at- 1020 by State Secrets Doctrine tacks, government ramped Federal employees fired DIRECTOR, EDITORIAL OPERATIONS: up secrecy. after criticizing the govern- Ann Davies ment can run afoul of the little-known doctrine. CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY INC. CHAIRMAN: Paul C. Tash CURRENT SITUATION At Issue 1021 Has the Bush administration VICE CHAIRMAN: Andrew P. Corty Court Battles misused government secrecy? PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER: Robert W. Merry 1019 Open-government advocates are challenging restrictive Copyright © 2005 CQ Press, a division of Congres- information policies. FOR FURTHER RESEARCH sional Quarterly Inc. (CQ). CQ reserves all copyright and other rights herein, unless previously specified Information Leaks For More Information in writing. No part of this publication may be re- 1022 Secrecy is hampering the 1025 Organizations to contact. produced electronically or otherwise, without prior written permission. Unauthorized reproduction or debate over U.S. treatment transmission of CQ copyrighted material is a violation of detainees, critics say. Bibliography 1026 Selected sources used. of federal law carrying civil fines of up to $100,000. CQ Researcher (ISSN 1056-2036) is printed on acid- The Next Step OUTLOOK 1027 free paper. Published weekly, except March 25, July Additional articles. 1, July 8, Aug. 5, Aug. 12, Nov. 25, Dec. 23 and Dec. 30, by CQ Press, a division of Congressional Quarter- Culture of Openness? Citing The CQ Researcher 1023 ly Inc. Annual subscription rates for institutions start The administration shows 1027 Sample bibliography formats. no signs of retreating from at $625. For pricing, call 1-800-834-9020, ext. 1906. its restrictive policies. To purchase a CQ Researcher report in print or elec- tronic format (PDF), visit www.cqpress.com or call 866-427-7737. A single report is $10. Bulk purchase discounts and electronic-rights licensing are also Cover: The remains of a soldier killed in Iraq arrive back in the United States. The Defense available. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, Department’s 2003 decision to bar the press from photographing such ceremonies has been D.C., and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: criticized as an effort to limit public focus on U.S. casualties in Iraq. Facing a lawsuit, the Send address changes to CQ Researcher, 1255 22nd Pentagon finally released hundreds of photos of such ceremonies in April 2005 but obscured St., N.W., Suite 400, Washington, DC 20037. the faces and insignias of honor guards. (Department of Defense) 1006 The CQ Researcher Government Secrecy BY KENNETH JOST sponse to FOIA requests have become basic raw material for THE ISSUES countless news stories and in- he rumors surfaced in terest-group reports. 2003: Prisoners were As in the current ACLU case, T being held incom- FOIA-released materials often municado and shockingly provide ammunition for critics abused at U.S. prisons in Iraq of government policies and ac- and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. tions. Perhaps partly because of Government secrecy kept the potential for such criticism, the lid on the mistreatment at government agencies often drag Abu Ghraib prison near Bagh- their feet in responding to FOIA dad until April 2004, when requests or take a broad view CBS News’ “60 Minutes II” of the act’s exemptions for broke the story — complete withholding documents. with dramatic photographs of Bureaucratic resistance to the snarling guard dogs, beatings law dates from its earliest days, and sexual humiliation. but journalists and watchdog But insiders had long been via Getty Images groups say it has increased since concerned about the treatment President Bush took office in of detainees. Vice Admiral 2001. “This is not a good [time] Lowell E. Jacoby, head of the for FOIA compliance,” says Defense Intelligence Agency David Burnham, a former New (DIA), for example, had com- York Times reporter who Washington Post Washington plained that Department of An Iraqi detainee is hooded and handcuffed at Abu heads Syracuse University’s Defense (DoD) investigators Ghraib prison in Baghdad. In addition to scores of Transaction Records Action in Iraq had tried to silence photographs of abuses aired by CBS, the Pentagon Clearinghouse (TRAC). The or- reluctantly released interviews and other documents DIA agents who questioned about interrogation abuses at the facility. The American ganization uses the law to their interrogation techniques. Civil Liberties Union obtained the records after compile and distribute detailed And FBI e-mails showed that invoking the federal Freedom of Information Act. reports on federal law en- FBI experts had strongly ob- forcement. 2 jected to the harsh DoD techniques. systemic and widespread,” says ACLU In fact, open-government advocates Pressured to investigate, the Army’s lawyer Amrit Singh. “They call into say the Bush administration has adopt- inspector general in July 2004 blamed question the government’s failure to ed policies across the board that have the Abu Ghraib abuses on individual ser- hold accountable the senior officials made the past five years distinctively vicemembers rather than any systemwide responsible for these abuses.” difficult in getting access to govern- failure. Subsequent interviews, however, Singh’s organization obtained the doc- ment information. “They have been cast a more damning light on command uments only after a protracted legal bat- more secretive and more controlling responsibility for the abuses. “There was tle with the Pentagon that began in Oc- of information than probably most of no specific training on treatment of de- tober 2003, well before the Abu Ghraib the recent past administrations,” says tainees,” a platoon leader told Army in- scandal broke. 1 The ACLU lawyers had Pete Weitzel, a veteran journalist who vestigators. And an enlistee said that with- asked for Defense Department records now coordinates the Coalition of Jour- out training, interrogators ended up using pertaining to U.S. treatment of Iraqi de- nalists for Open Government. “All fed- techniques that “they literally remembered tainees, invoking the federal Freedom eral administrations tend to be some- from movies.” of Information Act (FOIA). what closed and secretive,