| PAGE TOOLS |
 |
|
|
|
Sign up to receive NewStandard headlines and extras by e-mail weekday mornings!
|
Sep 5 -
Facing a severe budget deficit, the United States federal government last year spent a record amount of money keeping information from the public, according a recently released report conducted by a coalition of civil liberties and open-government advocacy groups.
In total, Washington spent at least $7.2 billion classifying records in 2004. The amount does not reflect spending by the Central Intelligence Agency.
In comparison, the 41 agencies studied spent only $1 declassifying records for every $148 spent keeping them out of reach, the OpentheGovernment.org report concluded. The year before, the government spent $120 to classify document s for every $1 spent making others publicly accessible. According to the compiled records, it cost taxpayers $460 to maintain each classified document last year.
The use of secret advisory meetings and "state secrecy" orders are on the rise as well, the report concluded. Sixty-four percent of all federal advisory committee meetings were closed to the public in 2004. Additionally, the Bush administration has invoked "state secrecy" at least 23 times since 2001, almost six times as frequently as the tool was used during the height of the Cold War, the report said.
In August, the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government (CJOG) released a report on 2004 FOIA requests showing a 23 percent increase in public requests for government records. That report surveyed requests to ten federal agencies and fifteen departments and showed more than 4 million requests, a jump of nearly a million from 2003.
Many times, federal agencies fail to meet the deadline requirements imposed by the Freedom of Information Act, CJOG said. Most requests are granted, the report found, but about one-third of requests for non-personal information remained unfulfilled in 2004.
