Federal Government has 900,000 secret employees.

Federal government has 900,000 secret employees

by Michael J. Sniffen, Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Breaking a tradition of openness that began in 1816, the Bush administration has without explanation
Filed under: Secret government in America withheld the names and work locations of about 900,000 of its civilian workers, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

''Citizens have a right to know who is working for the government,'' said Adina Rosenbaum, attorney for the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group at Syracuse University, who sued to get the data.

Since 1989, TRAC has been posting on the Internet a database with the name, work location, salary and job category of all 2.7 million federal civilian workers except those in some law enforcement agencies. The data, provided on compact discs, are often used by reporters and watchdog groups.

The New York Daily News used the data to find names of guards at a detention center where abuse was alleged. Another reporter used it to find names of Transportation Security Administration guards at LaGuardia Airport to pursue cargo theft allegations.

''Secret governors are incompatible with a free government,'' TRAC wrote the federal Office of Personnel Management last Feb. 2 when the agency withheld the data. ''Basic information about the employees who carry out the day-to-day actions of government is critical for meaningful public oversight.''

The Office of Personnel Management said it would not comment until the lawsuit is reviewed.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-name07.html

into the Soviet Union. Anyone in favor of loading Bush, Cheney and the President's Cabinet into Air Force I, sending them to Iraq and not letting them come back until they come up with a solution there.

Under that ever insultingly, overused phrase, "National Security".