Administration withholding more information from public, report finds
New and old secrets are being kept more often and for longer periods of time.
Executive branch agencies kept more information from the public in 2004 than at any time in the last decade, according to a new report on government classification.
Agencies made about 15.6 million decisions in 2004 to withhold information from the public, which was an increase of 10 percent from the previous year, the Information Security Oversight Office said in its annual report to the president. Classification activity has gradually increased every year since 1996, dropping only once between 2000 and 2001. Statistics in the report date back only to 1996.
The report does not, however, conclude that agencies are improperly rushing to classify information, explaining that heightened classification activity appears to be driven by the ongoing war on terror and military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"It must be noted that during the period from fiscal year 2002 through fiscal year 2004, the U.S. government built a new structure for homeland security and engaged in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and against al Qaeda," the report said. "At the same time, information technology has exponentially increased the government's ability to produce information of all sorts, both classified and unclassified. It cannot be said conclusively from this report's data that recent increases in the number of classification decisions were due substantially to the phenomenon of 'overclassification.' "
But the report highlights classification activity that is suspect and practices that may need improvement. For example, ISOO did a random sampling of about 2,000 documents and found that 51 percent contained discrepancies, raising questions about why they were classified. The basis for classification could not be determined for 10 percent of the documents. In some cases, those responsible for classifying information used justifications that have not been valid since 1995.
"Overclassification, besides needlessly and perhaps dangerously restricting information sharing, also wastes untold dollars," the report stated. "One of the most effective steps agencies can take to address these concerns is to ensure that classification becomes an informed, deliberate decision rather than one committed by rote.
"In the final analysis," the report added, "it is the people who deal with the information, their knowledge and understanding of the program, and their faith in the integrity of the classification system, that protects truly sensitive national security information from unauthorized disclosure."
The Defense Department withheld the most information in 2004, with most decisions coming from the Army.
Some agencies reduced the overall amount of information withheld compared to 2003, such as the National Reconnaissance Office and the Energy and State departments.
But as the administration increased the overall amount of information stamped as classified, top secret or confidential, it is also declassified old secrets less, the report found. The government declassified about 28 million pages of older information in 2004. Comparatively, the government declassified about 43 million pages in 2003 and about 100 million pages in 2001.
There was also a "substantial increase" in the amount of time that information is kept classified. Agencies are deciding more often to keep information classified for 10 years to 25 years, which is the official limit.
Agencies are required to release all information that is more than 25 years old by December 2006. The report found, however, that 21 agencies are in jeopardy of not meeting that deadline.
The single most significant step agencies can take to improve the integrity and effectiveness of the system is to enhance the quality of classification guides, the report said.
"The specificity as to what information is classified, at what level, and for what duration is the foundation of the system," according to the report. "Guides must also be reviewed frequently and updated at least once every five years, and those that contradict one another must be reconciled."
The report added that some agencies should make improvements in the area of workforce security education, training and self-inspection in order to ensure that information is both properly classified and not improperly released. Fifteen percent of agencies reviewed had insufficient staff to meet their internal oversight responsibilities.