Jump to: Action Resources Incidents

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security."

- Benjamin Franklin

Open and accountable government is one of the bedrock principles of our country; without access to government documents and information it is impossible for the citizenry to make informed decisions. Government secrecy is a form of suppression of information — it subverts the public’s right to know, impoverishes the collective knowledge base, and precludes Congress, the media, and the public from assessing public policy and holding officials accountable. Recently, the government’s vigorous attempts to withhold information from the public has weakened the public’s ability to inform itself and damaged the ability of researchers to engage in vital studies and analyses by restricting their access to information.

While advocacy groups have long kept the government’s feet to the fire with regard to overzealous control over dissemination of information, the events of 9/11 signaled a sea change in the government’s approach to public information. Starting with the introduction of the USA Patriot Act, several trends have developed that have sharply increased the level of government secrecy. For example, law enforcement agencies now have the authority to search homes and businesses without a warrant and to track an individual’s internet usage, library records and book purchases. The federal government has also increased the amount of information withheld as classified by extending the authority to designate information as classified to agencies that previously lacked it, by retroactively designating information as classified that had never been designated as such or had already been declassified, and by extending the period of time wherein the documents are to remain classified.

A significant development in this trend is the use of a new, nebulous category, “Sensitive But Unclassified” (SBU), to withhold a vast number of documents from public view. While the formal designation of information as “classified” is governed by relatively uniform rules and procedures, the new SBU category follows few procedures: there are no uniform rules about how to remove this designation, any federal employee may tag a document as SBU, and there are few checks to control potential abuse of this categorization.

Another notable setback for open and accountable government has been a sharp regression of the public’s ability to access documents through The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the primary tool whereby the public can monitor the operations of the government. Since 9/11, federal agencies and departments have been strongly encouraged to resist disclosure of documents requested via the FOIA. Not surprisingly, the number of FOIA requests has skyrocketed in the last few years.

Below are a list of resources and articles regarding government secrecy, attempts to further government suppression of ideas, and efforts to make government more transparent.

The Government Accountability Project

Open The Government

OMB Watch

Federation of American Scientists: Project on Government Secrecy

Action

» Shedding light on government secrecy, David Wise analyzes recent developments Wise's column, "Secrecy's Shadow Falls on Washington," discusses gradual undermining of First Amendment protections for the free press upon which we all depend for vital information about government activities. Also of interest, this op-ed by Rep. Jim McDermott.

» Issue #95: Government Under Wraps Fall 2004
The rapid escalation of secrecy under the Bush Administration has alarmed government officials as well as the public, and set off a flurry of Congressional hearings.
In September, Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of CA, released a report citing an "unparalleled assault on the principle of open government," asserting that the Bush Administration evades the federal laws that govern classified information and freedom of information.
The report is accompanied by a major proposal, The Restore Open Government Act of 2004, » Rep. Waxman Introduces Legislation to Restore Transparency and Open Government Laws » Information on material that the government classifies, Freedom of Information requests
» Issue #92: NCAC Sponsors Free Speech Conversation

Winter 2003-2004 Authors discuss issues of censorship, secrecy and terrorism.

» Issue #91: Science & Politics by Joan E. Bertin
Fall 2003
Censorship News focuses on government suppression of scientific research and information.

» Issue #89: Keeping Government Documents Secret Spring 2003
President Bush keeps millions of documents secret and extends power to classify documents to Vice-President Cheney.

» Issue #88: The Silver Lining? by Joan E. Bertin
Winter 2002-2003
Tracking changes in government secrecy, public access to information and invasion of personal privacy.

» NCAC & Journalism Groups Urge Bush Administration To Abide By Established Combat-Coverage Guidelines New York, December 19, 2002

» Issue #87: "Democracies Die Behind Closed Doors" Fall 2002
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the government may not conduct secret deportation hearings without proving the need for secrecy-a decision which expands First Amendment rights of access to the press and the public. Detroit Free Press v. Ashcroft.

» Now They Check the Books You Read By Joan E. Bertin
Newsday
September 16, 2002
TIPS, Patriot Act, Covert Surveillance, Secret Proceedings

» Secret Wars: Houston's Art Car Museum showed an exhibition entitled "Secret Wars." America's "new war" against terrorism will be fought with unprecedented secrecy, including heavy press restrictions not seen for years, the Pentagon has said. "Secret Wars" investigates artistic dissent to covert operations and government secrets. The artists have retrieved evidences, personal and public, that call into question the good intentions of classified information and COINTELPRO tactics. September 21, 2001-February 24, 2002.

» Issue #83: The First Amendment in the Shadow of Terrorism Fall 2001
Censorship and Government Secrecy in Wartime

» Statement Sent to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Wartime Censorship October 17, 2001

» Issue #71: Government Secrecy: Bad Habits Die Hard Fall 1998
A provision in a Defense Department authorization bill would set back Clinton's efforts to declassify information.

» Issue #66: Government Secrecy Overdue for Review Summer 1997
The Government Secrecy Act of 1997

» Issue #62: Do We Pay Too Much For Secrecy? Summer 1996
Excerpted from an article by Max Frankel
The New York Times Magazine
June 16, 1996

» GOVERNMENT SECRECY, WAR, AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT A forum on government secrecy and public access to information in the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the "War on Terrorism"

 

»ACLU: National Security Letters Gag Patriot Act Debate

A provision in the Patriot Act authorizes the FBI to demand library or internet records without prior court approval, and to forbid anyone from speaking about the request. Related: 7/11/07 American Library Association urges Congress to reform laws governing the FBI's use of National Security Letters

»1/26/05 Sibel Edmonds: A Patriot Silenced, Unjustly Fired but Fighting Back to Help Keep America Safe, ACLU

An FBI whistleblower is fired, her case is put off, and then retroactively classified.

Related: Whistleblower's "Dirty Dozen"

»Details of the Vice President's Energy Task Force Come to Light, from Project Censored

" Documents turned over in the summer of 2003 by the Commerce Department as a result of the Sierra Club’s and Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, concerning the activities of the Cheney Energy Task Force, contain a map of Iraqi oilfields, pipelines, refineries and terminals, as well as two charts detailing Iraqi oil and gas projects, and “Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts.” The documents, dated March 2001, also feature maps of Saudi Arabian and United Arab Emirates oilfields, pipelines, refineries and tanker terminals. There are supporting charts with details of the major oil and gas development projects in each country that provide information on the project’s costs, capacity, oil company and status or completion date... The Bush Administration’s struggle to keep secret the workings of Cheney’s Energy Task Force has been ongoing since early in the President’s tenure."

» Issue #98: Summer 2005
The House of Representatives voted to exempt library and bookstores from searches allowed under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. The Freedom to Read Act, introduced by Rep. Bernie Sanders (VT), cuts funding for such searches by amending the House Appropriations Bill. The vote of 238 to 187 shows growing legislative support to protect Americans' right to privacy, and the effectiveness of the Campaign for Reader Privacy. This is a significant victory, but the battle will continue as Congress considers renewal of the sunset provisions in the Patriot Act.

» Issue #98: Summer 2005
The American Society for Aerospace Science won't allow Iranians and citizens of other embargoed nations to publish papers or attend future conferences under their auspices despite the lifting of such bans by the Treaury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (Censorship News 96). The Institute claims it is banning such exchanges for security reasons. Iranian scientists have strongly protested.

»5/11/05 NY Times: Appeals Court Backs Cheney In Secrecy Case

» Issue #97: Spring 2005
The ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain records relevant to charges that the administration denied visas to foreign scholars who criticized US policies. Several scholars were forced to resign teaching positions and others were excluded from scholarly conferences. The visas were revoked under a provision of the Patriot Act which permits the government to exclude foreigners it judges to have "used positions of prominence to endorse or espouse terrorist activity."

» Issue #96: Winter 2004-2005
"A free press is the best guarantee of a knowledgeable citizenry," said CT Senator Chris Dodd as he introduced a bill in Congress to shield reporters who refuse to reveal confidential sources. The bill comes amid a federal investigation of a leak of a CIA agent's name, and on the heels of threatened jailings of reporters. Most states have shield laws to protect journalists in their state, but not-as yet-the federal government.

» Treasury Department Responds to Lawsuit by Changing Its Regulations to Permit the Publication of Books & Journals from Authors in Sanctioned Countries New York NY
December 15, 2004

» Issue #94: Disclosure: Good for the Goose, Not the Gander
Summer 2004 - Remember Total Information Awareness? (Censorship News 88) The Government Accounting Office reports that the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Department of Homeland Security may be utilizing private data bases, including credit card records and Internet logs, to gain information about ordinary citizens. Another data-mining surveillance program, MATRIX (Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange) allows government officials to search millions of files for "anomalies" that might implicate terrorists, according to an ACLU white paper, The Matrix: Total Information Awareness Reloaded.

Meanwhile, as the government seeks total disclosure about individuals, the Administration is stonewalling about U.S. treatment of Iraqi prisoners. Thousands of pages of documents urgently requested by Congress, including Red Cross warnings, have still not been released.

» Issue #94: A Blank Check? by Joan E. Bertin
Summer 2004 - The Justice Department's disdain for constitutional rights has triggered resistance-in the Supreme Court, no less. As we go to press, the Court has just affirmed the right of individuals detained as "enemy combatants" to consult with lawyers and to contest the grounds for their detention before a neutral decision-maker.

» Issue #94: "Off With His Head" - the Queen of Hearts, in Alice in Wonderland Summer 2004

The FBI recently confiscated books, computers and lab equipment from the home of Steven Kurtz, an art professor at the State University of NY at Buffalo and member of the internationally recognized art collective, Critical Arts Ensemble. CAE's work explores the politics of biotechnology, and the material found in Kurtz's home was part of its latest project, Free Range Grains. Designed to test food products for possible genetic modification, Free Range Grains was scheduled to be shown at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art this summer. Instead, a sign describing the FBI action occupies its designated space.

Kurtz came under suspicion after he called for emergency medical attention for his wife, who had apparently died in her sleep. Police who responded to the call saw lab equipment and petri dishes and alerted the FBI. The Erie County Health Department established that the substances and equipment were relatively harmless and non-threatening; nonetheless, Kurtz became the object of a federal grand jury investigation. Members of CAE and other academics were subpoenaed, but most invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to testify. Kurtz has been indicted, not for terrorism, but on charges of mail and wire fraud.

» Continuing Investigation of Buffalo Artist Steve Kurtz Threatens Free Expression Posted 6/17/04
As organizations committed to artistic, intellectual, and academic freedom, we are concerned about the extended and apparently unwarranted investigation of Buffalo-based artist Steve Kurtz and the chilling effect it is likely to have on other artists or scholars whose work explores the border of art and science or employs harmless biological and chemical materials.

» Issue #92: Winter 2003-2004
Speaking of dissent, the Bush administration has instituted an oxymoronic policy of "free speech zones" away from his motorcades where people carrying signs opposed to administration policies are relegated-out of sight and hearing of the President. Those carrying friendly messages are welcome in the President's vicinity.

» Issue #91: Fall 2003
Admiral John Poindexter is gone from the Pentagon, along with his Orwellian proposals, including the Total Information Awareness Program (Censorship News 88) and the terror futures market scheme-intended to prevent terrorism through traders' predictions! Oregon Senator Ron Wyden-who led the opposition-said: "From a standpoint of civil liberties, this is a huge victory."

Attorney General John Ashcroft is on a 16-state tour to defend the Patriot Act against mounting opposition. Reportedly, he is skipping jurisdictions with active Bill of Rights Defense Committees, where resolutions condemning the Act have been passed by many localities and three state legislatures: Alaska, Hawaii and Vermont. The ACLU is challenging the Patriot Act in court; Congress rejected the administration-proposed "sneak and peek" searches; and bills are pending to amend other sections. The Administration still seeks to expand the Act to deny bail to terrorist suspects, broaden the death penalty, and relax standards for subpoenas.

 

» Issue #90: Summer 2003 The White House is trying to duck discussion of environmental policies by deleting references to global warming from an Environmental Protection Agency report. When criticized for censoring sections that referred to threats to human health and the environment from man-made pollutants and to the sharp increase in global temperatures in the past decade, the Administration dodged discussion of current research studies, claiming that the issues merit more research.

» Issue #89: Voices of Protest Sometimes Get Through Spring 2003
Members of Congress put the brakes on the Total Information Awareness Program proposed by the Defense Department, in response to widespread protest and concern for individual rights.

» Issue #88: At What Price "Awareness"? Winter 2002-2003
Freedoms that Americans treasure could be gravely endangered by an Orwellian program Vice Admiral John Poindexter has devised for the Defense Department in the fight against terrorism. Known as the "Total Information Awareness" program (TIA), electronic "data mining" would allow the government to collect and analyze personal information about every individual in the United States. The system would enable the merging of commercial and governmental information in the expectation that patterns of terrorist activities would be revealed.

» Issue #86: Summer 2002
To the alarm of booksellers, librarians, and readers, the USA PATRIOT Act, passed overwhelmingly by Congress in October, gives the FBI the right to secretly seek library and book store records in investigating terrorism. Libraries and bookstores are prohibited from revealing the inquiry to anyone, including the person whose records are sought. During the cold war, the FBI visited science libraries to ask about reading habits of anyone with a foreign name or accent. Public pressure caused the demise of the highly controversial program.

» Issue #85: Jailed Journalist Wins PEN Award Spring 2002
Vanessa Leggett, the freelance journalist who was jailed in Texas for refusing to give government prosecutors confidential source material, is the recipient of the prestigious 2002 PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award, which carries a $25,000 prize.

» Issue #84: Protest And Patriotism, Not Either-Or Winter 2001-2002
While military tribunals raise questions primarily about criminal justice, they also threaten First Amendment principles, rights and values. They can effectively "gag" defendants, undermine the ability of the press to report and the public's right to know about critical events, and shield the government from scrutiny-all principles that are basic to democracy. Although the newly-enacted Patriot Act gives the President broad powers to fight terrorism, some members of Congress were taken aback when the President unilaterally announced a plan to try foreigners accused of terrorist acts in closed military tribunals.

» Issue #97: Sex, Lies and Videotape by Joan E. Bertin
Spring 2005
Joan Bertin discusses Armstrong Williams, Jeff Gannon and State Department produced "video news releases," which masquerade as news but in fact are produced by the government to promote its policies.

» Issue #94: Summer 2004
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has published a valuable new guide, How to Use the Federal FOI Act, which interprets court rulings, laws and policy changes, and provides step by step help. It's available at www.rcfp.org/foiact/index.html or can be purchased in hard copy for $5.

» Saying No to the Prosecutor: Why Steve Kurtz's Colleagues Refused to Testify to the Grand Jury
By BRUCE JACKSON
Posted 6/22/04
Steve Kurtz's wife Hope died of a heart attack May 11. Steve, an associate professor of art at University at Buffalo, called 911. The police who came saw some of the materials for an art exhibit on genetic modification and called the FBI. The FBI came in, cordoned off half the block, confiscated Hope's s body, Steve's computer, his notebooks, his art supplies and their cat. They took him into custody. Two days later they let him and the cat go and whoever had the wife's body released for burial. There was no supposition of foul play in the death. Kurtz is a member of the highly-regarded Critical Arts Ensemble, a group that does confrontation art works designed to make people think about the role corporations play in modern life.

Federal prosecutors subsequently convened a grand jury, with Kurtz as its target, presumably on charges of bioterrorism. To everyone who knows anything about Kurtz, his associates or his work, this appears lunatic. But this is John Ashcroft's Justice Department and it's only a few months since they tasted blood in nearby Lackawanna.

» FBI agents have been talking to almost everyone connected with Steve Kurtz FBI agents have been talking to almost everyone connected with Steve Kurtz in any way, shape, or fashion. They've interviewed museum curators in Massachusetts and the state of Washington, colleagues in New York and California, and students. Federal prosecutors have convened a grand jury to go after Kurtz. There were reports last week that, on the advice of counsel, Kurtz's two associates in the Critical Arts Ensemble and five of the other six witnesses called by the grand jury refused to testify.

» April 12, 2004 - Free Speech Authors And Groups Condemn Government Restrictions On Free Flow Of Information
In Fall 2003, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Treasury Department issued an opinion that trade embargoes against countries such as Iran, Cuba, Iraq, Libya and Sudan prohibit publishers from editing scientific and literary manuscripts by residents of those countries and restrict other academic and intellectual collaborations. Free Speech proponents are pushing for the elimination of these restrictions.
Related:» Treasury Department Responds to Lawsuit by Changing Its Regulations to Permit the Publication of Books & Journals from Authors in Sanctioned Countries » Restrictions Remain on Collaborating and Editing Foreign Scripts

» Issue #91: Censoring Scientific Information Fall 2003
The scientific data on which Americans rely is being manipulated by the Bush Administration, according to a new report, Politics and Science, prepared for Representative Henry Waxman of California by minority staff of the House Committee on Government Reform. It cites examples of censorship and "distortion of scientific information, interference with scientific research and manipulation of scientific committees" in federal agencies responsible for monitoring the nation's food, water and medicine; medical research and disease control; education; defense; workplace safety; and the environment. For examples see the link below.

» Issue #89: Spring 2003 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has issued a comprehensive report on actions the government has taken since 9/11 to limit information available to the media and to the public. The report, entitled Homefront Confidential: How the War on Terrorism Affects Access to Information and the Public's Right to Know, is the third in a series. It analyzes the impact of the Homeland Security Act and the USA Patriot Act, as well as the President's order for military tribunals and secret detention hearings and the Attorney General's directive on the federal Freedom of Information Act. To view the report online, click here. (use link below only to access the previous anchor/link, the piece we need here is fully excerpted)

» NCAC & Journalism Groups Urge Bush Administration To Abide By Established Combat-Coverage Guidelines Posted December 19, 2002
In light of the ongoing war on terrorism and the potential for an attack on Iraq, the role of the press in informing the nation about public safety concerns and the military, diplomatic, law enforcement, and intelligence actions of the government continues to be tested in novel and profound ways. As advocates for journalists and press freedoms, we write to provide the Administration and Congress with steps that we believe are essential for the government to take to ensure that it honors its obligations to the public under the First Amendment.
Related:
» Statement of Principles

» Issue #83: The First Amendment in the Shadow of Terrorism
Fall 2001
Here in New York, there were a few sources of comfort in the weeks after September 11: victims, firefighters, police and other rescue workers heroically risked, and some lost, their lives for others. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (even though he's not so hot on the First Amendment) provided notable leadership to New Yorkers coping with unprecedented disaster.

» National Security Concerns are Cited to Justify Expanded Government As we dig out and try to restore normalcy, even though threats proliferate around the country, civil libertarians and others have begun to ask not only what harm terrorists may yet inflict, but also what damage will be self-inflicted in response to this threat. Individual liberties have historically been vulnerable in times of crisis. Already, national security concerns are cited to justify expanded government power to detain immigrants, monitor electronic communications, invade on-line privacy, control news coverage, and suppress dissent.

» Issue #84: Writing History to Executive Order by Richard Reeves
Reprinted from The New York Times
November 16, 2001
With a stroke of the pen on Nov. 1, President Bush stabbed history in the back and blocked Americans' right to know how presidents (and vice presidents) have made decisions. Executive Order 13223 ended more than 30 years of increasing openness in government.

» Issue #74: Kill the Messenger Summer 1999
Congress suppresses study which suggests that young people might not be harmed by sexuality, even if careful research supports that conclusion.

» Issue #38: Free Speech in Wartime
Spring 1991
During the Persian Gulf war, NCAC protested to Defense Secretary Cheney, with other groups, about Pentagon press restraints which far exceeded the need to protect lives. Public acceptance of the extreme restrictions shows a tenuous understanding of the reasons for press freedom. There has been strong support from NCAC Friends who understand that empty claims of national security can allow government to conceal what the public has a right to know and dominate the debate without challenge. Some, however, wrote us that in wartime free press principles must be set aside.