Press Releases

Secrecy Report Card 2005: Government Secrecy Grows, Few Controls

September 1, 2005 --
Contact: Patrice McDermott, 202-332-6736
View the Secrecy Report Card 2005
See Representative Shays' statement

Government agencies are expanding secrecy in many areas, according to the findings of a report released today. The 2005 Secrecy Report Card, the second annual report on secrecy from OpenTheGovernment.org, found secrecy in 2004 extended to more classified activity, more federal advisory meetings, more new patents deemed "secret," more domestic surveillance, and more new state laws restricting public access to information.

09/02/2005

MEDIA ALERT: Media Call for Release of 2005 Secrecy Report Card

OpenTheGovernment.org will hold a conference call for reporters and editorial board members for the release of its second annual Secrecy Report Card on Thursday, Sep. 1, 2005 at 12:30ET. This year's report card features an encyclopedia of government restrictions on "sensitive but unclassified" information, plus all-new reporting on "patent secrecy orders," state-level legislation, and closed advisory committee meetings. Examined alongside updated figures on classification, whistleblowers, and information requests under the Freedom of Information Act, these findings point to unprecedented levels of government secrecy.

09/01/2005

The Federal Government Keeps More Secrets for Longer, New Data Shows

The federal government set a new record for keeping secrets in 2004, during which government employees chose to classify information a record 15.6 million times, according to new government figures released this week and highlighted today in an update to OpenTheGovernment.org's Secrecy Report Card.

04/05/2005

OpenTheGovernment.org Lauds Journalists Celebrating Sunshine Week, Places Ads Online

Washington, DC - The OpenTheGovernment.org coalition applauds journalists across the country who are taking part in Sunshine Week, the first national effort by journalists to focus attention on the importance of open government. In support of the event and their efforts, we are placing online ads to promote efforts to strengthen open government, viewable from www.OpenTheGovernment.org.

03/17/2005

'Report Card' Finds 60% Rise in Secrecy at a Rising Cost of 6.5 Billion Last Year

CONTACT: Patrice McDermott 202-332-6736
View the 2004 Secrecy Report Card.

Government data confirm what many have suspected: secrecy has increased dramatically in recent years under policies of the current administration. For every the federal government spent last year releasing old secrets, it spent an extraordinary $120 maintaining the secrets already on the books, according to an analysis by OpenTheGovernment.org.

"Secrecy Report Card: Quantitative Indicators of Secrecy in the Federal Government," is an initial effort to establish measurable benchmarks for evaluating the level of secrecy in government. The study was released Aug. 26 by OpenTheGovernment.org, a coalition of more than 30 organizations calling for more democracy and less secrecy in government.

08/25/2004

Government Classifies Too Much Information, Congress Must Act, Groups Say

The nation's secrecy system is broken and needs overhaul, twenty groups noted in a letter to intelligence committees in the House and Senate today. Initial secrecy about Abu Ghraib prisoner abuses and federal agency efforts to classify key sections of reports about Iraq and 9/11 failures show the national security secrecy system needs reform, the letter says. In the letter, the groups urge two basic changes. First, Congress should create an oversight board that could settle disputes about whether information should be classified. Second, Congress should establish a national classification center to guide and oversee agency decisions to stamp documents as classified. (See also PDF versions of the letter to the and .)

08/04/2004

'Ten Most Wanted' List Highlights Government Secrecy

News Conference 2 pm Thurs. April 15 National Press Club, Zenger Room Embargoed for release 2 p.m. Thurs. April 15 Contact: Rick Blum, 202-234-8494 x238 Washington, D.C., April 15, 2004-A new coalition advocating less secrecy and more openness in government opened its own doors Thursday with the release of its survey report, “Ten Most Wanted Documents for 2004.”

04/15/2004

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