FPF sues Justice Department over Qatari plane secrecy
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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Government tries to convict Jeffrey Sterling for retroactively classified documents about rotary phones
We're republishing Marcy Wheeler's coverage of the trial of CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling. The following post first appeared at ExposeFacts. After a week of ominous language about the dangers of leaking classified documents, the 14 jurors in the Jeffrey Sterling trial Tuesday got their first look at purportedly classified …
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Government wants to know potential Sterling jurors’ opinions about whistleblowers
We're republishing Marcy Wheeler's coverage of the trial of CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling. The following post first appeared at ExposeFacts. “Do you have any positive or negative beliefs or opinions regarding the term ‘whistleblower’ or individuals who act in the role of a ‘whistleblower’?” the government wants to have …
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Support the Bureau of Investigative Journalism's new project investigating the CIA torture report
Today, we’re launching our first crowd-funding campaign of 2015—in support of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s new reporting project on the Senate’s recently-released report on CIA torture. The Bureau, which is partnering with the Rendition Project and long-time torture and secret prisons researchers Crofton Black and Steve …
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This Week in Transparency: Whistleblowers remain mired in broken system
'When revealing secret documents, one law helps us like no other.' Good piece over at War Is Boring on how it used the FOIA for national security reporting, when it failed, and the need for legislative reform.LAWSUITS DoD fights lawsuit seeking unclassified report on nuclear needs of Israel and …
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FOIA Rundown: The Year in Review, Private Prisons, and Stolen Brains
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. Regrets the error: My last newsletter referred to "ace blogger Andrew Howard." Mr. Howard's first name is Alex.Also, while not technically a correction, I forgot to give …
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Obama’s Justice Department secretly helped kill the FOIA transparency bill that was based on its own policy
We’ve long known the Justice Department’s stance on transparency has been hypocritical and disingenuous. But they’ve really outdone themselves this time. Last week, the agency secretly helped kill a bipartisan Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reform bill that was based word-for-word on its own policy. First, a little background: In …
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Why aren't more news outlets covering Sen. Rockefeller's shameful attempt to kill FOIA reform?
An uncontroverisal, mild Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reform bill may die on Monday, despite passing 410-0 in the House earlier this year, and with a similar bipartisan vote expected in the Senate. The bill had already been stripped of its most substantive provisions that government agencies objected to, …
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Transparency bill on the verge of passing is being blocked by Sen. Rockefeller
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. FOIA Reform The FOIA Improvement Act of 2014 is on the verge of passing. One senator away, in fact. As of Friday, only Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D., W.V.) …
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This Week in Transparency: FOIA reform passes Senate Judiciary Committee
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. FOIA REFORM The Senate Judiciary committee reported the FOIA Improvements Act of 2014 to the full Senate by a unanimous vote last week. More than 70 transparency and …
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FOIA Rundown: Reform bill delayed, lethal injection secrecy, and more
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. FOIA Reform The Senate Judiciary Committee pushed back a hearing on the FOIA Improvement Act of 2014, where it was expected to vote on the bill and advance …
