Group Troubled by Rise in Gov't Secrecy

[cal04]

Source: Washington Post

Government secrecy by almost any measure is expanding and little is being done to stop it, according to a coalition of 67 organizations favoring greater openness.

From classified information to the president's use of the state secrets privilege, the lack of disclosure should be a growing concern to the public and the Congress, said Patrice McDermott, director of OpenTheGovernment.org, which compiled a report using mostly the government's own figures.

"While some of the increased secrecy is attributable to a reaction to 9/11 and to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, there is also a significant expansion of the power of the executive at the expense of the public, the courts, and Congress," McDermott said Friday. "The executive branch seems to believe that something is kept under wraps solely on its say-so, whether it is legitimately so or not."

(snip)
From 2003-2005, the FBI made 143,074 requests for telephone companies, Internet service providers, banks, credit bureaus and others to turn over data, the coalition noted. The requests came in the form of national security letters, which are administrative subpoenas that do not require a judge's approval. In 2000, the FBI issued an estimated 8,500 such requests.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/01/AR2007090100049.html

[napi21]

1. Well YEAH! So have the rest of us for a LONG time!

I know I listened to Turley the other night and he said congress should just say "Mr. President, you want XXXXX. OK, we'll give you XXXXX when you give us the records we're asking for. No records, no money! No records, no authority!

[Tab]

2. Only now they're figuring it out?

Shit, from the first Presidential Order protecting papers past and present, to the illegal firing of the National Archivist, they've done this from day one.

It sure as shit hasn't much sunshine since.

[Solly Mack]

3. 2009 is coming - look like you're doing your job

[DCKit]

4. It's not a conspiracle, it's just CYA dummies.... NT

[tom_paine]

5. We are all troubled by the rise of the New Totalitarianism

It is being done so easily, shamelessly, and OPENLY.

I never imagined that the American Republic would fall so easily to the same stuff the Weimar and Roman Republics did.

[DeepModem Mom]

6. K&R!