Administration sets record for withholding government files by Ted Bridis.
From the post:
The Obama administration set a record again for censoring government files or outright denying access to them last year under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, according to a new analysis of federal data by The Associated Press.
The government took longer to turn over files when it provided any, said more regularly that it couldn’t find documents and refused a record number of times to turn over files quickly that might be especially newsworthy.
It also acknowledged in nearly 1 in 3 cases that its initial decisions to withhold or censor records were improper under the law — but only when it was challenged.
Its backlog of unanswered requests at year’s end grew remarkably by 55 percent to more than 200,000. It also cut by 375, or about 9 percent, the number of full-time employees across government paid to look for records. That was the fewest number of employees working on the issue in five years.
The government’s new figures, published Tuesday, covered all requests to 100 federal agencies during fiscal 2014 under the Freedom of Information law, which is heralded globally as a model for transparent government. They showed that despite disappointments and failed promises by the White House to make meaningful improvements in the way it releases records, the law was more popular than ever. Citizens, journalists, businesses and others made a record 714,231 requests for information. The U.S. spent a record $434 million trying to keep up. It also spent about $28 million on lawyers’ fees to keep records secret.
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Ted does a great job detailing the secretive and paranoid Obama White House up to and including a censored document that forgot to cover up:
“We live in constant fear of upsetting the WH (White House).”
Although I must confess that I don’t know if it is worse that President Obama and company are so non-transparent or that they lie about how transparent they are with such easy smiles. No shame, no embarrassment, they lie when the truth would do just as well.
Not that I think any other member of government does any better, but that is hardly an excuse.
The only legitimate solution that I see going forward are massive leaks from all parts of government. If you aren’t leaking, you are part of the problem.