Government secrecy on the rise

A new report by OpenTheGovernment.org, a coalition of 67 organizations, finds that government secrecy “by almost any measure is expanding and little is being done to stop it.” Some highlights:

– In six years, President Bush has issued at least 151 signing statements, challenging 1149 provisions of laws. In the 211 years of our Republic to 2000, fewer than 600 signing statements that took issue with the bills were issued. Among recent presidents, Reagan issued 71 statements challenging provisions of laws before him; G.W.H. Bush issued 146; Clinton, 105.

– Since 2001, the “state secrets” privilege has been invoked a reported 39 times–an average in 6.5 years (6) that is more than double the previous 24 years (2.46).

– A 2007 Justice Department Office of the Inspector General report on secret wiretap warrants indicated that the government made 143,074 National Security Letter requests in the period 2003-2005. The number for 2006 remains classified.

Patrice McDermott, director for the coalition, said, “The executive branch seems to believe that something is kept under wraps solely on its say-so, whether it is legitimately so or not.


http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/01/government-secrecy-on-the-rise/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/01/AR2007090100049.html
OpenTheGovernment.org
http://openthegovernment.org/

A Note on the Indicators
OpenTheGovernment.org seeks to identify measurable indicators that can be used as benchmarks to evaluate openness and secrecy in government in the United States. We include data based on three criteria:
• data that show trends over time;
• data that have an impact across the federal government or the general public; and
• data that already exist and require little or no further analysis.
There are many indicators out there that could be included, and we will continue to add to the indicators. These indicators are not intended to be comprehensive.

What follows is a brief look at how the main indicators we examine
have changed over time. We have also added two new indicators – White House
assertions of executive privilege in response to congressional
requests for information, and data on competition status of
federal government contracts.
http://www.openthegovernment.org/otg/SRC2007.pdf

:shrug: