900,000 workers now secret: Government won't say who, where

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-name07.html

WASHINGTON -- Breaking a tradition of openness that began in 1816, the Bush administration has without explanation withheld the names and work locations of about 900,000 of its civilian workers, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

''Citizens have a right to know who is working for the government,'' said Adina Rosenbaum, attorney for the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group at Syracuse University, who sued to get the data.

Since 1989, TRAC has been posting on the Internet a database with the name, work location, salary and job category of all 2.7 million federal civilian workers except those in some law enforcement agencies. The data, provided on compact discs, are often used by reporters and watchdog groups.

Info 'critical for ... oversight'

The New York Daily News used the data to find names of guards at a detention center where abuse was alleged. Another reporter used it to find names of Transportation Security Administration guards at LaGuardia Airport to pursue cargo theft allegations.

[wishlist]

1. One-third of Federal employees is a huge number to be keeping secret

No surprise about this escalation of secrecy in this administration where cronyism and unaccountability is the norm. If they had their way Bush & Co would totally abolish the nonpolitical Civil Service and award all jobs to their buddies or else privatize the positions to Repub contractors.

[izzie]

2. I think you have got it right on this.

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