Report indicates government secrecy is on the rise

OpenTheGovernment.org, a coalition of individuals and organizations, including NFOIC, released the 2008 Government Secrecy Report Card today.

While the number of FOIA requests received increased, an increase was also noticed in the number records classified as confidential.

Read the full report here.

An AP story reported:

Government secrecy is on the rise by almost every measure, according to a report by a coalition of government oversight groups.

They said the U.S. is classifying more records as top secret or otherwise confidential and employing fewer workers who make federal documents available publicly.

"The open society on which we pride ourselves has been undermined and will take hard work to repair," said the report, described as a "secrecy report card" by OpenTheGovernment.org. It cited 14 different measurements to quantify government secrecy, including patents hidden from the public, secret court approvals for surveillance in sensitive terrorism and espionage investigations and the expanding use of informal labels to keep documents from being disclosed.

More here.

Additional coverage of the 2008 Government Secrecy Report Card:

• Report: Competition down, secrecy up; Federal Computer Week
• New report tracks increase in government secrecy; Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
• Government's secrecy grade: Unsatisfactory; OMB Watch
• Government secrecy on the rise: Think Progress