Federal Withholding - Classified Information

The U.S. government has a secret. Tens of millions of secrets actually, according to a recent report by the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO)

By Paul Roberts

July 01, 2004 — CSO — The U.S. government has a secret. Tens of millions of secrets actually, according to a recent report by the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO).

The rapid growth in classified information points to problems with the government's classification system, according to ISOO's "Report to the President." The report found that the federal government made more than 14 million decisions in 2003 to declare information and files "confidential," "secret" or "top secret."

If left uncorrected, the federal government's classification system and its current binge of classifying information could threaten the public's democratic right to obtain information about government activities and hamper the ability of government agencies to share information, says Bill Leonard, director of the ISOO. The report documented increases across the board in classification activity. Instances of so-called original classificationthe initial determination by an authorized government official that information requires extraordinary protectionincreased 8 percent from 2002; there were 234,052 original classification decisions made in 2003. Classification decisions stemming from original classifications, or "derivative classifications," increased even more sharply in 2003, to nearly 14 million actionsa 40 percent increase since 9/11. Derivative classification means that secondary documents get classified because they contain original classification material.

While these numbers are fodder for those who are suspicious of government secrecy, the increases are understandable, given heightened domestic security in the aftermath of Sept. 11, and the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, says Leonard. "It would be surprising if the product of those efforts wasn't reflected in the amount of classified output," he says.

While they're not focusing too closely on the numbers, Leonard and others are concerned that the government's classification system is strained by a chronic lack of attention from senior officials in the agencies that classify information and by the new demands of the Bush administration's war on terrorism.

The causes of excessive information classification are well-known, including a bureaucratic mentality and fear of prosecution that causes midlevel officials charged with classifying documents to err on the side of secrecy, according to Leonard and Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy for the Federation of American Scientists.

Classification is expensive. And excessive classification of information can actually prevent government agencies from coordinating their activities with each other, and with state and local authorities.