Blog Posts and Analysis / Open, Accountable Government

Agencies Cite Privacy More Often When Denying FOIA Requests

Agencies are twice as likely to claim personal privacy in 2002 than in 1998 to justify denials of Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests. In 1998, just under 40 percent of FOIA denials were for personal privacy; in 2002, roughly 80 percent of denials were for privacy. Surprisingly, agencies use national security to explain refusals less often than they did several years ago. That’s the conclusion of an analysis by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press that compared agencies’ annual reports on compliance with the federal open records law for 1998 and 2002.

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Administration Secrecy Obstructs GAO Energy Inquiry

Last week, the General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report culminating a contentious struggle to identify who helped craft the administration’s energy policy. While no startling revelations come from the document, GAO's report repeatedly rebukes the administration for withholding critical information.

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Jailed Whistleblower Files Appeal

After serving a 16-month sentence for exposing an email vulnerability to his company’s customers, Bret McDanel is appealing his conviction in an effort to clear his name and send a message that discussing flaws and vulnerabilities is acceptable. While working for Tornado Development, McDanel discovered the email flaw and reported it to the company. Six months after severing his employment with Tornado, McDanel discovered that the company had never fixed the vulnerability. McDanel then informed each email user of the Tornado system of the vulnerability in an email from “Secret Squirrel.”

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Federal Secrecy Includes State and Local Officials

A new report from the Democratic staff of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee has found that federal secrecy and information restrictions imposed following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are preventing state and local officials from accessing important security information.

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Congress Might Put Nuclear, Energy Programs Behind Closed Doors

House and Senate conferees will have to decide whether the federal government's nuclear waste and energy programs can be closed off from media and public scrutiny. Included in the House version of the defense authorization bill (H.R. 1588) is a provision that would grant the Department of Energy (DOE) the ability to restrict unclassified information on these programs.

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Ashcroft on Tour to Defend Patriot

Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Bush administration appear to be feeling the growing public opposition to the USA Patriot Act. Rather than push safeguards and increase transparency, Ashcroft has hit the road in a publc relations campaign to convince the public that the Patriot Act is nothing to fear.

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EPA Reponse to 9/11 Influenced by the White House

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Inspector General released a report Aug. 21 revealing that EPA communications to the public immediately after 9/11 were misleading. Statements made by EPA did not fully represent the data the agency possessed, and were strongly influenced by the White House. The report follows an investigation by the Inspector General into EPA’s overall response to 9/11.

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