CDC assessed risks of releasing info

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is withholding about 4,000 pages of documents that reveal how it conducted risk analyses on Alison Young's reporting, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported. A leaked memo indicated that after the newspaper requested documents on a no-bid contract, CDC officials ordered an analysis on what would happen to CDC's reputation if the information became public. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution filed an FOIA request in January 2007 for all other documents related to risk assessments but has been denied all but 46 pages.

Employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have generated about 4,000 pages of documents assessing risks to the agency’s reputation posed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s reporting.

But the CDC is keeping those records secret, despite directives from the Obama administration that federal agencies presume government records are open to the public under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

Release of the CDC records “would interfere with the agency’s deliberative process and have a chilling effect on employee discussions,” CDC freedom of information officer Lynn Armstrong said in a letter sent this month to the AJC.

More here.