Reform Government Secrecy

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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.

Tell Congress to support the Presidential Records Act

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Edit this message so that it is unique to you: Dear [Senator/Representative], As your constituent, I am writing to urge you to ISSUE A STATEMENT explicitly reaffirming that the Presidential Records Act is constitutional and that any claims to the contrary are not lawful and threaten our democracy. This is necessary in response to the Department of Justice’s recent memo claiming the PRA is unconstitutional, arguing that a president’s records are private property. This is wrong and flips 50 years of transparency on its head. The law has required every president since Ronald Reagan to turn their records over to the government at the end of their term. This ensures that the “American story” belongs to the public, not just those who inhabit the White House. This transparency provided vital insights into Democratic and Republican administrations alike, on topics ranging from the Obama administration’s Iran nuclear deal and the George W. Bush administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina. If this DOJ memo stands, every future president, Democrat or Republican, will operate in total darkness. This is a bipartisan emergency. I am asking you to PLEASE SPEAK OUT and use your influence to safeguard the PRA. Your efforts to ensure our government remains transparent will have major implications for the public’s faith in our democracy. Thank you. URLs are not allowed in this message.

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Join me in urging Congress to defend the Presidential Records Act, thus ensuring that the American story belongs to the public — not whoever is in the White House.

Featured Items

Dangerous copyright ideas from a top newspaper group threaten free speech
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Published Dec. 20, 2016 Parker Higgins
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At the end of 2014, Congress was on the verge of passing a long overdue reform of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which would have updated the vital transparency law for the digital age. Mysteriously, the bill died at the very last minute, despite it having almost unanimous …

Published Sept. 1, 2016 Freedom of the Press Foundation
The secret rules for using National Security Letters on reporters
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After multiple spying scandals in 2013 involving the surveillance of journalists at the Associated Press and Fox News, the Justice Department announced it had updated its “media guidelines” to better protect journalists’ press freedom rights in leak investigations. This was portrayed as a big win for the press, however, the …

Published Sept. 1, 2016 Freedom of the Press Foundation
Dozens of news orgs demand DOJ release its secret rules for targeting journalists with National Security Letters
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A coalition of thirty-seven of news organizations—including the New York Times, the Associated Press, NPR, USA Today, and Buzzfeed—filed a legal brief over the weekend in support of Freedom of the Press Foundation’s case demanding that the Justice Department release its secret rules for targeting journalists with National Security Letters …

Published June 15, 2016 Trevor Timm
An independent journalist explains how the Freedom of Information Act is broken
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There are many side effects to being stonewalled: disbelief, anger, disillusionment, and, of course, repeating yourself. I have experienced them all. Since early 2012, I’ve been trying to access evidence from one of the most significant prescription drug-dealing trials in U.S. history, which ended with Dr. Paul Volkman – …

Published March 17, 2016 Philip Eil
New documents show the Obama admin aggressively lobbied to kill transparency reform in Congress
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New documents obtained through Freedom of the Press Foundation’s lawsuit against the Justice Department reveal that the Obama administration - the self described “most transparent administration ever” - aggressively lobbied behind the scenes in 2014 to kill modest Freedom of Information Act reform that had virtually unanimous support in Congress. …

Published March 8, 2016 Trevor Timm
Author Barry Eisler talks about whistleblowers and secrecy at the Association of Former Intelligence Officers
Whistleblowers•Article
Author and former CIA officer Barry Eisler spoke at the Association of Former Intelligence Officers opposite ex-CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden on Monday. Below is an adaptation of his opening remarks about the importance of whistleblowers and government transparency. Eisler's new novel, "God's Eye View," inspired by the Snowden …

Published Feb. 29, 2016 Barry Eisler
New documents shed light on the Justice Dept's secret rules for targeting journalists with National Security Letters
Surveillance•Article
In July 2015, Freedom of the Press Foundation sued the Justice Department (DOJ) over the agency’s secret rules governing how the FBI can target members of the media with due process-free National Security Letters, and we have just received documents back in the ongoing lawsuit. These secret rules matter …

Published Jan. 8, 2016 Trevor Timm
Freedom of the Press Foundation sues the Justice Department for details about its push to block transparency reform
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Freedom of the Press Foundation has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Justice Department for all correspondence the agency has had with Congress over proposed FOIA reform bills that died last year in Congress, despite having unanimous support of all its members. More than a …

Published Dec. 15, 2015 Trevor Timm
Publishing the unredacted SecureDrop 0.3.4 audit report
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In July, we announced the release of SecureDrop 0.3.4 and published the accompanying security audit by iSEC partners (now NCC Group). The audit found 10 issues, one of which â issue 7, Finding ID iSEC-15FTC-4 â was redacted. It was redacted because it was not an issue in SecureDrop …

Published Dec. 11, 2015 Garrett Robinson