Bush's Secret Government

Suit Decries New Secrecy in Government

Breaking a tradition of openness that began in 1816, the Bush administration has without explanation withheld the names and work locations of about 900,000 of its civilian workers, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

``Citizens have a right to know who is working for the government,'' said Adina Rosenbaum, attorney for the co-directors of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group at Syracuse University, who sued under the Freedom of Information act to get the data.

Since 1989, TRAC has been posting on the Internet a database with the name, work location, salary and job category of all 2.7 million federal civilian workers except those in some law enforcement agencies. The data are often used by reporters and government watchdog groups to monitor policies and detect waste or abuse.

Recently, the Union of Concerned Scientists and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility used the database to identify and locate U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists for a survey. Many of the scientists complained of political intervention into their research.

TRAC used the data to monitor the Bush administration's promise to increase security along the Canadian border after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Six months later, TRAC found Border Patrol agents on that border were up from 331 to just 346. Another year later, the number had reached 515, but not one was assigned to the Canada-Alaska border despite Alaska's potential strategic targets.

The New York Daily News used the data to find the names of guards at a federal detention center where prisoner abuse was alleged. Another reporter used it to find the names of Transportation Security Administration guards assigned to New York's LaGuardia Airport to pursue cargo theft allegations.

``Secret governors are incompatible with a free government,'' the TRAC co-directors wrote the federal Office of Personnel Management last Feb. 2 when the agency withheld the data. ``Basic information about the employees who carry out the day-to-day actions of government is critical for meaningful public oversight...''

OPM spokesman Mike Orenstein said the agency would not comment until it had time to review the lawsuit.

Using FOIA, TRAC has obtained the data on compact discs every three months since 1989. But the federal government began publicly naming its employees, their job category, salary and workplace in 1816...

The last complete data set provided by OPM covered 2003. Since then, all records of civilian employees of the Defense Department have been withheld and name and duty locations were withheld for an estimated 150,000 other civilian workers, the lawsuit said. The others work in 650 occupations at 250 different agencies including the Federal Trade Commission, the National Park Service and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration.

Gary A. Lukowski, OPM's workforce information manager, wrote TRAC in late 2004 that the agency was reviewing its policy ``on disclosure of individual employee records as this relates to the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act.''

Last spring, Lukowski forwarded the 2004 discs and noted that the ``major change affecting your request is that individual records for the Department of Defense are excluded from the file provided.'' He told TRAC it would have to request the records from the Pentagon directly.

The lawsuit said that, in violation of the FOIA, OPM did not even mention that another 150,000 names and workplaces had been deleted or why and that OPM has not responded to requests to explain its new policy.

Originally posted by loam

This administration has effectively removed itself from all means of accountability

...and the public is blissfully letting it happen....

Originally posted by soficrow
How can we stop it loam?

Originally posted by loam

Fix the free press and all else will follow....

Originally posted by soficrow


I agree, and I'll bite.

How?

Originally posted by YIAWETA
Our greatest strength as Americans lies in our overt lust for consumer goods. Before the gravity of this power disappears we must wield it forcefully. Boycott television news completely. It's all scripted. We're told what they need to tell us and nothing more.

Originally posted by ekul08
Unfortunately, unless you have a Nielsen box, none of these networks will care if you watch them or not. You'd have to convince their advertisers that the ratings numbers arent respresentitive of the actual viewership.

Originally posted by ludaChris
Did anyone stop and think that information may be kept secret because of the loads of Gov't employees working in the broader middle east.

I mean with the kidnappings of not just American employees, but those from the rest of the countries who are lending a helping hand. I think this is for security of these idividuals,

and if we can get our hands on that information then those who are hostile could get their hands on it as well. And that wouldnt be very nice, itd be advertising the sensitive information of names and locations of our fellow citizens abroad,

this article is just another cheap shot.

Originally posted by dgtempe
Bush & Co. will stay to protect us- After all, we trust him to care for the people against those evil terrorists....

Originally posted by SKMDC1


I have a TiVo... does that count? Doesn't TiVo offer "aggregate" information to Nielson? Vote with your TiVo!