Government Secrecy

Secrecy and the Bradley Manning Trial

Jonathan Hafetz | Posted 04.25.2012

Read More: Government Secrecy, Government Transparency, Bradley Manning Court, Bradley Manning, Wikileaks, Bradley Manning Trial, Bradley Manning Case, Crime News

Rather than allaying concerns surrounding excessive government secrecy by opening Manning's criminal proceedings for the world to see, the court is exacerbating them by suggesting there is something to hide.

Read Post

Who Will Watch the Watchers? Google & Facebook Privacy Audits Should be Fully Public

Nathan Newman | Posted 02.04.2012

Read More: Transparency, Secrecy, Government Secrecy, Freedom of Information Act, Facebook Privacy, Google Privacy, Facebook, Privacy, Google, Technology News

If Google wants to have the role of trustee of more information about more people than any other company and even the government, then it should accept in turn public scrutiny of its actions as well.

Read Post

When the Government Lies

Geoffrey R. Stone | Posted 12.27.2011

Read More: Secrecy, Department of Justice, Foia, Government Secrecy, Open Government, FOIA Requests, Politics News

The Department of Justice has proposed federal regulations that would authorize the United States government to lie to the American people. This is not as crazy as it seems.

Read Post

Obama Issues 'WikiLeaks' Order To Better Safeguard 'Classified' Information

AOL Government | Wyatt Kash | Posted 12.07.2011

Read More: Obama Executive Order, Secrecy, Civil Liberties, Government Secrecy, National Security, Obama Wikileaks, President Barack Obama, Obama, Wikileaks, Classified Information, Barack Obama, Politics News

The White House has issued an executive order today aimed at improving the security of classified networks and preventing the release of documents to ...

Read Whole Story

One Cesium Burger, Please

R.W. Sanders | Posted 09.13.2011

Read More: Government Secrecy, Fukushima Nuclear Plant, Beef, Lsd, Oil Spills, Nuclear Testing, World News

Nicholas Ito reported on CNN on July 13 that radioactive beef has been found in Japan. At first, six cows were apparently butchered and sold in Tokyo....

Read Post

The Surveillance Memos, and a Suggestion for Jack Goldsmith

Jameel Jaffer | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Secrecy, Judge Jay Bybee, Warrantless Wiretapping, Government Secrecy, John Yoo, OLC Memos, Jack Goldsmith, Surveillance, Aclu, Patrick Philbin, Politics News

Last week, almost five years after we filed our request under the Freedom of Information Act request, we managed to obtain two Bush administration legal memos about government surveillance.

Read Post

Efforts To Boost Transparency In States Often Thwarted By Old Patterns Of Secrecy

AP | BETH FOUHY | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Transparency, Government Accountability, Rick Scott, Andrew Cuomo, Government Secrecy, Gary Herbert, Government Openness, Terry Branstad, John Kasich, Government Secrecy Study, Government Openness Study, Government Transparency, Government Transparency Study, Politics News

NEW YORK — More openness in government. Lawmakers across the country, including the Republicans who took control in many states this year, say t...

Read Whole Story

Wikileaks and the New Fourth Estate

Ben Tripp | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Mainstream Media, Julian Assange, Government Secrecy, Wikileaks, World News

I think I now understand why the commercial media has turned out such a unanimous show of support for government secrecy: the so-called Fourth Estate,...

Read Post

Take Off the Blindfold. Don't Be Afraid to See the Truth!

Coleen Rowley | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Secrecy, Whistleblowers, Government Secrecy, Julian Assange Wikileaks, Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, Bradley Manning Wikileaks, Wikileaks, Truth, Lemmings, Media News

Most of the media seems to view WikiLeaks as trying to upset their easy job of transcribing leaders' press releases. Not surprisingly, much of the press helps shoot the little boy calling the emperor naked.

Read Post

The Invisible Government

Robert Koehler | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Noam Chomsky, Julian Assange, Democracy, Hillary Clinton, Media, Government Secrecy, WikiLeaks Cables, Middle East, Politics News

Once again, the curtain of secrecy is drawn back and Olympus looks more like Oz. The machinations of empire turn out to be banal and ordinary. In a t...

Read Post

What Wikileaks and Cablegate Mean for Open Government

Alexander Howard | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Secrecy, Government Secrecy, Internet, Open Government, Information Technology, Diplomacy, Wikileaks, Public Diplomacy, Gov 2.0, World News

Aeschylus wrote nearly 2,500 years ago that in war, "truth is the first casualty." His words are no doubt known to another wise man, whose strategic "...

Read Post

The Case of the Missing Inspector General Reports

Project On Government Oversight | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Inspector General, Government Secrecy, Open Government, Securities and Exchange Commission, Politics News

Cross-posted on the Project On Government Oversight's blog. Inspector General (IG) investigations expose some of the most egregious examples of mi...

Read Post

Post-WikiLeaks, Army Now Requires Troops To Report Suspected Leaks

AP | ANNE FLAHERTY | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Whistleblowers, Government Secrecy, Army Espionage Rulebook, National Security, Whistleblower, Army Wikileaks, Wikileaks, Leaks, Politics News

WASHINGTON — The Army has updated its 17-year-old rule book on espionage to specifically require that troops alert authorities if they suspect c...

Read Whole Story

No More Secrets: Then What?

Suzanne E. Spaulding | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Secrecy, Cybersecurity, Government Secrecy, Information Technology, Cia, Eli Lilly, Business News

If the C.I.A.'s Don Burke is right, we only have 13 more years to figure out how to compete in a world in which we can no longer count on secret information to give us the edge in government and in business. What are we doing to get ready?

Read Post

Release of Police Documents Imminent

Jamie Kalven | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Bond v. Utreras, Government Secrecy, Mayor Daley, Mara Georges, Jody Weis, Joan Lefkow, Chicago Police Department, Government Transparency, Chicago Police Misconduct, Civil Rights, Chicago News

The city believes its power to impose secrecy should be unlimited and beyond scrutiny, that it should be the sole arbiter of what is and is not public information.

Read Post

Transparency Groups Urge Obama To Involve Public In Executive Order Revisions

HuffingtonPost.com | Sahil Kapur | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Executive Order, Government Secrecy, Executive Power, Steven Aftergood, Transparency, Patrice McDermott, Accountability, Barack Obama, Politics News

As President Obama prepares to modify the rules of executive power, 21 public advocacy groups and individuals are fighting to make sure he fulfills hi...

Read Whole Story

Secrecy Sacrificing National Security

Shahid Buttar | Posted 05.25.2011

Our nation's most notorious criminals violate our most fundamental laws and remain not only free, but actively engaged in influencing our national security policies.

Read Post

A Defense Against Government Secrecy and Overclassification

Baruch Weiss | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Aipac, Warrantless Wiretapping, Classified Documents, Bush Wiretapping Surveillance, Government Secrecy, Steve Rosen, Keith Weissman, Overclassification, Espionage, Politics News

Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman were indicted under the 1917 Espionage Act, an almost-never used relic of World War I. The government also sought to have the defendants -- US citizens -- tried in secret.

Read Post

AG Madigan Proposes Crack Down On Government Secrecy

AP | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Illinois Open Meetings Act, Foia, Illinois Privacy Exemption, Government Secrecy, Illinois Foia Laws, Lisa Madigan, Chicago News

CHICAGO (AP) - Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office is proposing changes to the state open records law that it says would dramatically cut ...

Read Whole Story

Secrecy in the Courts: How to Get Judges, Lawyers and Sharon Stone to Follow the Rules?

Peter Scheer | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Secrecy, Supreme Court, US Supreme Court, Government Secrecy, Celebrity Gossip, Sharon Stone, Courts, Lawsuit, Politics News

California has long had judicial openness rules that are exemplary -- on paper. The time has come to insist that they be followed.

Read Post

Governor, Legislature Holding Closed Meetings Despite Reform Message

Chicago Tribune | Ray Long | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Quinn Open Meetings, Open Meetings, Illinois Open Meetings Act, Pat Quinn, Government Secrecy, Government Transparency, John Cullerton, Chicago News

SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Pat Quinn and the top legislative leaders strode down a stairwell and into a Capitol hearing room for a private meeting with the H...

Read Whole Story

Illinois Stimulus Projects Lists Still Kept From Public

Associated Press | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Quinn Stimulus, Chicago Stimulus Money, Government Secrecy, Pat Quinn, Stimulus Package, Mayor Daley, Stimulus Bill, Illinois Stimulus Funds, Illinois Stimulus Projects, Chicago Stimulus Projects, Chicago News

With Illinois poised to get nearly $9 billion from the federal stimulus bill, state and city officials have been scrambling to compile wish lists of p...

Read Whole Story

Attorney General Madigan: Fine Governments That Withhold Public Documents

Associated Press | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Government Secrecy, Illinois Foia Laws, Illinois Freedom of Information Act, Lisa Madigan Foia, Freedom of Information Act, Lisa Madigan, Chicago News

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan wants to slap governments with up to a $1,000 fine for denying citizens the right to ...

Read Whole Story