Request denied
Julia Scott
March 16, 2006
Salon's War Room
[...] In spite of the public's deep concerns about government secrecy, since 1998 federal departments have filled fewer Freedom of Information Act requests in full -- while the number of requests for information has risen steadily, especially following the Sept. 11 attacks.
The government met the increased demand with unprecedented resistance. After 9/11, former Attorney General John Ashcroft and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card issued memos suggesting that agencies be more careful in granting FOIA requests; they cited national security concerns. Since then, the government has also pulled many documents off its Web sites, creating14 million new classified documents in 2003 -- a large increase over 2001. Now, access even to the safety records of a natural gas plant in a small American town can be denied. [...] Read the rest at: http://tinyurl.com/59pt3
© Virginia Metze
March 16, 2006
Salon's War Room
[...] In spite of the public's deep concerns about government secrecy, since 1998 federal departments have filled fewer Freedom of Information Act requests in full -- while the number of requests for information has risen steadily, especially following the Sept. 11 attacks.
The government met the increased demand with unprecedented resistance. After 9/11, former Attorney General John Ashcroft and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card issued memos suggesting that agencies be more careful in granting FOIA requests; they cited national security concerns. Since then, the government has also pulled many documents off its Web sites, creating14 million new classified documents in 2003 -- a large increase over 2001. Now, access even to the safety records of a natural gas plant in a small American town can be denied. [...] Read the rest at: http://tinyurl.com/59pt3
© Virginia Metze
Starmail - 19. Mär, 11:17
