Report reveals government secrecy is costing $9.5 billion

A national security expert writes in a new policy brief what all journalists have been arguing: government secrecy does not increase national security and Bush's policies of over-classifying documents as confidential should be stopped.

In the seven years since the September 11 terrorist attacks, there has been a dramatic escalation in federal government secrecy. This increase in information classification comes with a staggering price tag -- a record high of $9.5 billion in 2006 -- and is taking place in the face of almost universal agreement that classifying information is not enhancing national security.

In "Reinventing Transparent Government," a new policy brief for The Century Foundation, Patrick Radden Keefe, fellow and expert on national security and civil liberties issues, calls for rolling back the secrecy of the Bush years and restoring transparency and accountability to American government.

More here.

Read the full brief here.