Secrecy News -- 08/09/07 (Cloaks)
Steven Aftergood
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2007, Issue No. 82
August 9, 2007
** FOIA PERFORMANCE IS DETERIORATING, JOURNALISTS SAY
** ACLU SEEKS FOREIGN INTEL SURVEILLANCE COURT RECORDS
** CRS REPORTS ON OPENNESS AND TRANSPARENCY
FOIA PERFORMANCE IS DETERIORATING, JOURNALISTS SAY
If the Leahy-Cornyn bill to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act
that was adopted in the Senate last week becomes law, as expected, it
will not happen a moment too soon, because current government handling
of FOIA requests is deteriorating, according to a new analysis from the
Coalition of Journalists for Open Government (www.cjog.net).
"Over the past nine years, the number of FOIA requests processed has
fallen 20%, the number of FOIA personnel is down 10%, the backlog [of
pending requests] has tripled, and costs of handling a request are up
79%," the CJOG study reported.
In fact, "the cost of processing FOIA requests is up 40% since 1998,
even though agencies are processing 20% fewer requests."
Productivity of FOIA requests has dropped in other respects as well.
"The number of denials [of FOIA requests] increased 10% in 2006 and the
number of full grants, in which the requester got all the information
sought, hit an all-time low."
See "Still Waiting After All These Years: An in-depth analysis of FOIA
performance from 1998 to 2006," principally authored by Pete Weitzel,
Coalition of Journalists for Open Government, August 8, 2007:
http://www.cjog.net/documents/Still_Waiting_Narrative_and_Charts.pdf
ACLU SEEKS FOREIGN INTEL SURVEILLANCE COURT RECORDS
The American Civil Liberties Union filed an unusual motion with the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court this week seeking public
disclosure of recent Court orders interpreting the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act (FISA), the law that regulates warrantless surveillance
within the United States.
"Over the next six months, Congress and the public will debate the
wisdom and necessity of permanently expanding the executive's authority
to conduct intrusive forms of surveillance without judicial oversight,"
the ACLU motion stated, referring to the debate over the recent
amendments to the FISA that will sunset in six months if they are not
renewed.
"Unless this Court releases the sealed materials, this debate will take
place in a vacuum."
"Publication of the sealed materials would assist the public in
evaluating the significance of recent amendments to FISA and determining
for itself whether those amendments should be made permanent," the ACLU
argued.
A copy of the August 8 ACLU Motion for Release of Court Records is
posted here:
http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fisa/aclu080807.pdf
An ACLU press release on the motion is here:
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/spying/31227prs20070808.html
The ACLU motion admitted that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Court's docket "consists mainly of material that is properly
classified." However, it noted, "on at least two occasions in the past,
this Court has recognized the public interest in the Court's
[activities] and has accordingly published its rulings."
"Disclosure of the sealed materials, with redactions to protect
information that is properly classified, would be consistent with the
Court's past practice and procedural rules," the ACLU said.
CRS REPORTS ON OPENNESS AND TRANSPARENCY
Recent reports of the Congressional Research Service on topics related
to openness and transparency include the following.
"Does Price Transparency Improve Market Efficiency? Implications of
Empirical Evidence in Other Markets for the Health Sector," July 24,
2007:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/RL34101.pdf
"State E-Government Strategies: Identifying Best Practices and
Applications," July 23, 2007:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/RL34104.pdf
"Clinical Trials Reporting and Publication," updated July 12, 2007:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32832.pdf
"Freedom of Information Act Amendments: 110th Congress," updated July
10, 2007:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/RL32780.pdf
_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.
The Secrecy News Blog is at:
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
To SUBSCRIBE to Secrecy News, go to:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/subscribe.html
To UNSUBSCRIBE, go to
http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/unsubscribe.html
OR email your request to safte...@fas.org
Secrecy News is archived at:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/index.html
SUPPORT Secrecy News with a donation here:
http://www.fas.org/static/contrib_sec.jsp
_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web: www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email: safte...@fas.org
voice: (202) 454-4691