This is historical material “frozen in time”. The website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work.

Reform rules for classifying information to force greater transparency

Created by A.G. on March 22, 2013

At the start of your first term, you announced policies of transparency that delighted advocates of open government. But in practice, your administration has classified much more information than any other.

Democracy can't work if the people can't tell what the government is doing. If it's easy to classify information, it's used to protect officials from embarrassment or to hide illegality, rather than enhancing national security.

Please raise the bar on classifying information, and make it easier for citizens to challenge the classified status of information. Too many departments routinely classify everything and refuse FOIA requests. Make it harder for corruption and incompetence to hide behind a system intended to protect military secrets.

Civil Rights & Equality
Return to top