The Trump secrecy assessment
The U.S. classifies far too many secrets, obstructing democracy.
Excessive government secrecy takes many forms, from agencies needlessly claiming documents are classified to ignoring information requests and destroying records — even when the documents show government fraud or illegal conduct. This hinders a free press, effective oversight, and the public’s ability to self govern.
We need to fight for systemic improvements, and we need the press to vigorously question the government every time it says something is classified.
Featured Items
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When Can the FBI Use National Security Letters to Go After Journalists? That’s Classified
Two weeks ago, the DOJ Inspector General released a report on the FBI’s use of National Security Letters (NSLs)—the controversial (and unconstitutional) surveillance instruments used to gather personal information of Americans without any prior oversight from a judge. In a little-noticed passage buried in the report, the IG describes …
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This Week in Transparency: SWAT Secrecy and PACER Problems
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. SWAT Secrecy and Pentagon Hand-me-downs This week the ACLU issued a report on police militarization based on hundreds of public records requests to police departments across the country. …
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This Week in Transparency: Ferguson and GITMO Force-Feeding
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.FOIAs of the week: There's a quote about geography—via my old friend and GIS ninja Lyzi Diamond—that's stuck with me for a long time and might as …
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Help us crowd-fund the FBI file on one of the nation's unsung civil liberties heroes
There are roughly 35,000 pages of unreleased FBI documents on one of the true unsung heroes of the civil liberties movement in the United States, and we need your help to make them public. You may have heard part of this extraordinary story when it was first revealed earlier …
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This Week in Transparency: The Mosaic Effect
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. What we mean when we talk about the 'Mosaic Effect'
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This Week in Transparency: Runaway Classification and Bill Nye the Science Guy
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. Runaway classification: Rep. Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.) and Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) introduced a bill to reign in classification, the Washington Post reports: "The measure would request …
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On Torture: The New York Times Gets the Right Result for the Wrong Reasons
I’ve been trying to feel good about the New York Times’ decade-late decision to call torture torture—that is, to “deploy the English language to describe things,” as the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple memorably put it. Obviously, late is better than never, and I don’t see how a reasonable person …
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Don't Cheer Obama's 'Ban' on Torture
I have a question for all the well-meaning people who praise President Obama for “banning” torture: Would you also find it helpful for the president to ban kidnapping? Child abuse? Mail fraud? Maybe you would. After all, no one likes kidnapping, child abuse, or mail fraud. Maybe it would be …
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Chief Keith and the Revolving Door
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. Keith Alexander's financial disclosure is vital to national security interests or something Over at The Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf has an excellent piece on Jason Leopold's FOIA …
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Lethal Injection Secrecy, Private Prison Project, and More
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. Lethal Injection Secrecy: Over at Pacific Standard, the always-readable Ted Scheinman discusses the veil of secrecy surrounding the drug cocktails being used in lethal injections. As I've …
