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Secrecy in Government

Democracy Dies Behind Closed Doors
(Quote from CPR)

Government secrecy has been increasing at a rapid rate. Why? It is very simple. So that a few can more easily control the many. Our forefathers desires to have a "government of the people, by the people and for the people" is almost completely lost due to secrecy and special interest influence on government.

Increased secrecy in government is happening all over the country at the national, state and local levels. The Freedom of Information act is being grossly ignored and government is doing little or nothing to help.

Government entities are consistently violating freedom of information requests. Citizens and the news media are being denied or face delayed access to documents. Complaints to federal and state attorneys general and local government attorneys are trivialized or ignored.

References

Project On American Secrecy
SECRECY NEWS is a email publication of the FAS Project on Government Secrecy. It provides informal coverage of new developments in secrecy, security and intelligence policies, as well as links to new acquisitions on our web site. It is published 2 to 3 times a week, or as events warrant.

Secrecy Report Card
The government created 60% more secrets in 2003 than it did in 2001 - the biggest jump in secrecy in at least a decade.

Center for Progressive Regulation
The Issue is whether the public receives enough information to hold government and industry accountable for safeguarding health and the environment.

Government Reform Minority Office
Finds that there has been a consistent pattern in the Administration's actions: laws that are designed to promote public access to information have been undermined, while laws that authorize the government to withhold information or to operate in secret have repeatedly been expanded. The cumulative result is an unprecedented assault on the principle of open government.