Federal secrecy is rising rapidly

WASHINGTON — The federal government is classifying documents, closing advisory meetings and approving secret surveillance warrants at an unprecedented rate, according to a report being released today.

A coalition of conservative and liberal nonprofit groups called Openthegovernment.org found that secrecy is on the rise across all three branches of government and costing taxpayers more money than ever before.

Last year, federal officials classified 15.6 million new documents, about 81 percent more than they stamped secret in 2001, the first year of the Bush administration.

The cost of classifying those documents rose from $4.7 billion to $7.2 billion over the same period, not including what the CIA marked secret — since that figure is itself secret.

For every dollar spent declassifying documents, federal officials spent a record $148 last year creating and storing new secrets, according to the report. The amount spent on declassifying materials dropped to a new low of $48.3 million last year.

"The long-term impact of the growth of government secrecy is the public loses out," said Rick Blum, executive director of Openthegovernment.org. "The public loses the chance to make a difference in their communities."

For example, if a local community isn't aware of a security risk at a local chemical plant, it will not be prepared for a catastrophe, he said.

John Nowacki, a Justice Department spokesman, said that "despite the fact that terrorists are seeking to harm innocent Americans, our government is the most open government in the world. The Department of Justice carefully balances the public interest with our mission of keeping the American public safe."

J. William Leonard, director of the Information Security Oversight Office, an arm of the National Archives and Records Administration, agrees with Blum that too much information is being needlessly classified.

"Is overclassification an issue and a serious issue? Yes it is," said Leonard, whose office provides internal oversight of classified material. But overclassification is a bipartisan problem that dates back to the Truman administration, he said, so it would be unfair to blame Bush for the surge in classified documents.

Leonard attributes the increase to the advent of technology in government, explaining that each classification decision spawns hundreds of electronic classified documents. He also cites the secrecy required to fight a war in Iraq and against terrorists around the globe, as well as increased domestic security.