Inside-the-Beltway secrecy keeps expanding despite growing public concern, according to the Secrecy Report Card, produced annually by OpenTheGovernment.org.
The September report found a troubling lack of transparency in military procurement, new private inventions and the scientific and technical advice that the government receives, among other areas.
The public’s use of FOIA continued to rise and agency processing of FOIA requests remained mired in backlogs. At the same time, still more “sensitive” categories of information were created that allow federal agencies to withhold documents from the public.
Adjusted for an abnormal increase in Social Security Administration numbers, the number of FOIA requests has increased by 65,543 since 2004. Agencies overall have been unable to keep up with the number of requests. For every dollar spent declassifying old secrets, federal agencies spent $134 in 2005 creating and storing new secrets.
“Every administration wants to control information about its policies and practices,” said Patrice McDermott, director of OpenTheGovernment.org, “but the current administration has restricted access to information about our government and its policies in unprecedented levels.”
A recent study of FOIA use showed that about two-thirds of the requests to 20 federal departments and agencies were from commercial requesters. Media requests accounted for only 6 percent of the requests. Most of the remaining requests came from individual citizens, non-profits and government agencies.
In other Beltway developments:
• Open government advocates scored a big — if low-key — win in the closing week of Congress’ fall session with a law that will allow citizens to “Google” their government. President Bush signed the bill into law in late fall. It’s officially called the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, and it requires the federal government to provide a user-friendly, searchable database of its contracts and grants online. The legislation was co-sponsored by Senators Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Barack Obama, D-Ill.
• The Senate Judiciary Committee sent to the full Senate a much-needed overhaul of the federal FOI Act — too late for 2006 floor action but a good sign that reforms might yet gain approval. Co-sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, the bill: (1) helps FOIA requesters obtain timely responses to their requests by restoring meaningful deadlines for agency action; (2) requires agencies to create FOIA hot lines and request tracking systems to help the public follow up on requests; (3) creates an independent mediator to help resolve disputes and encourage alternatives to litigation; (4) makes it easier for requesters to recover attorneys’ fees when litigation is unavoidable; and (5) penalizes agencies for delaying responses.
• Open-government advocacy groups also took aim at secret holds on bills in the U.S. Senate. (For a time, one of the holds was on the Transparency Act!) Under Senate rules, a single senator can secretly put a hold on any bill, thus blocking it from consideration. The (Harrisonburg) Daily News Record noted, “At the very least, such senatorial . . .holds’ should not be secret. If any senator wants to block a bill, let him say so publicly and defend his action, not only to his colleagues but also to his constituents back home.”