Coalition Reports Massive Classification Abuse, Secrecy Rose 60%

Testimony from two government officials before the House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats & International Relations confirmed that federal agencies are massively abusing their classification powers. The experts estimated that half of the classified information is wrongly restricted. The same week, OpenTheGovernment.org, a diverse coalition of more than 30 organizations, released a Secrecy Report Card quantifying the expansion of secrecy as well as the growing costs to taxpayers. The subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee held a hearing at the end of August to investigate the 9/11 Commission's conclusion that government secrecy is actually impeding anti-terrorism efforts. Overuse of classification prevents information from being more widely discussed or shared with either the public or government officials who lack sufficient clearance, including many law enforcement officials. The commission cited such obstructions to timely sharing of intelligence information among law enforcement agencies as a significant factor in their failure to prevent the 9/11 attacks. J. William Leonard, Director of the National Archives' Information Security Oversight Office, told the subcommittee that in the past year over-classification has been "disturbingly increasing." Leonard also estimated that when officials have discretionary choices of whether or not to classify information they get it wrong more than half the time. This estimate was corroborated by testimony from Carol A. Haave, Undersecretary of Defense for Counter Intelligence and Security. Haave described the problem as extensive and projected that overuse of classification occurs 50 percent of the time. According to data from Leonard's office compiled in OpenTheGovernment.org report card, the government spent $6.5 billion last year -- more than it has for at least the past decade. The study also found that the federal government spent at least $120 creating new secrets and maintaining them for every dollar it spent declassifying documents. This figure is a dramatic increase over recent years. Examples discussed in the hearing indicated both the absurdity and seriousness of excessive secrecy. Harmless information clearly not warranting any security restrictions, such as the humorous plot against Santa Claus and the drinking preferences of a former dictator, are sometimes classified. Other examples demonstrate the serious danger from inappropriate classification. One study that found 40 percent of Army gas masks leak was classified, which delayed discussion and action to correct the life-threatening problem for six years. Perhaps most serious is the intentional abuse of over-classification as a self-serving deception. Prior to the U.S. war on Iraq, the Central Intelligence Agency restricted figures on the amount Iraqi agents paid for aluminum tubes from a prewar intelligence report in order the hide the inaccuracy of the agency's conclusion that Iraq's willingness to pay high costs suggested the intention to use the tubes in a special national interest project. The amounts were between $10 and $17.50 per tube. Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT), Chairman of the Subcommittee, noted that as a contributing factor the increased number of officials that have the authority to classify information. Currently almost 4,000 government officials may categorize documents as secret, top secret, or confidential. Participants also cited the complex variety of rules that allow different agencies to restrict information under numerous categories as another obstacle to effective information sharing. These the number of restricted information categories has grown considerably since the 9/11 attacks, only making the problem worse and more confusing for officials. OpenTheGovernment.org is a coalition of more than 30 organizations co-chaired by OMB Watch and the National Security Archive. Weekly updates from the coalition are available at www.openthegovernment.org. On the Web, subscribe to Secrecy News. You can get policy updates from the coalition by registering here.
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