Excessive government secrecy takes many forms, including denying or ignoring Freedom of Information Act requests and deleting data from websites.
These tactics prevent the public from meaningfully participating in self-government in every area secrecy touches, from domestic policy discussions on climate change, to foreign policy debates around international aid.
Sunshine Week, the annual celebration of the public’s right to know, reminds us that FOIA — the federal law that allows the public to request the release of government information — is our best tool to counter this excessive secrecy and hold officials accountable.
But FOIA is in trouble and we need congressional help to fix it.
Our Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy, Lauren Harper, explains more in this Sunshine Week op-ed.
