OpenTheGovernment.org released a report in September detailing an increase in government secrecy in the realms of national security, government contracting, and state governments, among other areas. The Secrecy Report Card 2007 is the latest report in an annual series by the coalition that analyzes objective measurements of secrecy in government.

National Security Information

The report notes that from 2002 to 2006, the average number of original classification decisions was 258,824; this is a 47 percent increase from the average number of original classification decisions from 1995 to 2000. Once information has been designated as classified by an original classifier, many other documents can be derivatively classified. Hence, an increase in original classification decisions can have an exponential increase in classified information writ large.

The report also explores the vast amount of money spent to keep information classified and secret, which has also increased in recent years. In 2006, the government spent $8.2 billion, a 7.5 percent rise from 2005. The Secrecy Report Card also notes that for every dollar spent in 2006 on declassifying documents, the government spent $185 to keep information secret. Despite a new requirement to declassify documents 25 years old or older, the resources devoted to declassification dropped by 22.6 percent from 2005. The number of pages declassified, though, increased 27 percent from 2005.

The Secrecy Report Card also notes that between 2003 and 2005, the government issued 143,074 National Security Letters, which are secret mandatory requests for personal information. Approximately 50 percent of these requests were directed at U.S. persons.

Government Contracting

Using data from FedSpending.org, the Secrecy Report Card documents a 166 percent increase, after adjusting for inflation, in the amount of money spent on federal contracts from Fiscal Year 2000 to Fiscal Year 2006, $208 billion to $415 billion, respectively. Contracts awarded without full and open competition rose from 55 percent of all federal contracts in 2000 to 66 percent in 2006. Between 2000 and 2006, $1.3 trillion was spent on contracts awarded without full and open competition.

State Governments

The report states that since 2001, 339 bills pertaining to the restriction of access to previously public information have been introduced in state legislatures, and 266 of these have passed. In particular, the Secrecy Report Card notes that 64 bills were introduced and 61 passed relating to the restriction of access to information on previously publicly available vulnerability assessments, energy and public utilities information, building and architectural plans and information relating to mass transit and telecommunication systems. The report indicates that 114 bills were introduced, of which 52 passed, relating to the increase of executive powers and the closure of previously public government meetings.