Activists Crawl Through Web to Untangle U.S. Secrecy

[UpInArms]

http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=26467

NEW YORK, Nov 29 (IPS) - To combat the Bush administration's penchant for secrecy, U.S. citizens have been forced to unearth new sources for information they once read in their daily newspapers. But thanks to a few dedicated individuals and not-for-profit groups -- and the Internet -- such material is easier to come by than ever before.

"The Bush administration has taken secrecy to a new level. They have greatly increased the numbers and types of classified documents," says Steven Aftergood, who conducts one of the most widely used "open government" programmes -- the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Project on Government Secrecy.

"They have made it far more difficult and time-consuming to obtain documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). And they have imposed 'gag rules' on an ever-widening group of government employees," Aftergood added in an interview.

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As an example, the website reports the effort of a former conservative member of Congress to board a commercial airplane. "She was pulled aside by airline personnel for additional screening, including a pat-down search for weapons or unauthorised materials. She requested a copy of the regulation authorising such pat-downs, and was told that she couldn't see it."

Why? "Because we don't have to," said an official of the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA). "That is called 'sensitive security information'. She's not allowed to see it, nor is anyone else," he added, according to 'Secrecy News'. "She refused to go through additional screening (without seeing the regulation), and was not allowed to fly."

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