Government Secrecy and Your Library Presentation for LIS

Government Secrecy and Your Library Presentation for LIS 610 By Gwen Sinclair March 1, 2016

What is “open government? ” • Transparent actions • Available information • Minimal secrecy

Open government ideal vs. reality • Government secrecy is entrenched • President Obama’s directive only applies to Executive Branch • Many types of information are still subject to secrecy protocols

What people believe about government information • It all gets saved/preserved • It’s all subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) • It’s available online, including declassified documents, and is fully searchable

Deliberate or Accidental Destruction • FBI files destroyed by J. Edgar Hoover (FBI director, 1924 -1972) and others • Shredded documents related to Iran-Contra, 1980 s • Emails of IRS officials being investigated for targeting Tea Party

Archiving by Government Agencies • Retention schedules: http: //www. archives. gov/frc/recordstransfer-disposition. html • Agency or NARA? http: //www. archives. gov/research/access ions/index. html • Selective Service medical records

Presidential Papers • Prior to Presidential Records Act of 1978, considered president’s personal property • Restricted access for years

Congress • Congressional Papers – Congress is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act – Considered personal property of each member of Congress – Access restricted in Deed of Gift – Some have not been saved – Classified information kept at National Archives

Freedom of Information Act • Applies only to Executive Branch • There are many exceptions: – National security – Personal information/Privacy – Law enforcement – Trade secrets/commercial or financial information – Pre-decisional information

Freedom of Information Act • Where can you read documents once released? – FOIA reading rooms – Very little available online • Subscription-based collections released documents – Digital National Security Archive (Pro. Quest) – Declassified Documents (Gale) – Pro. Quest microfilm collections • Various online collections

Even when FOIA applies… • It is very cumbersome to file a request • It can take years to receive a response • No central administration • FOIAonline • Guide

Inconsistent Redactions

Executive agreements • Executive agreements/treaties – Destroyers for bases in British territories (1940) – Military bases in Spain, Diego Garcia, Bahrain • Trade agreements – NAFTA – Trans-Pacific Partnership Source: Daily Mail

Presidential Directives • Executive orders • Presidential policy directives • National security directives

National Security • Intelligence budget – Contractors • Geospatial data – Strategic resources – Military installations – Imagery • Biopreparedness • Nuclear power plants and chemical plants risk assessments and emergency plans

Classification (show & tell) • Policy set by president • Automatic declassification – E. O. 13526 • Classification schedules – – – Top Secret Confidential Restricted Data (Dept. of Energy) Circumvention of classification • Sensitive but Unclassified • Controlled Unclassified

Classification • Declassification: how long does it take? – Fantasy: automatic declassification after 25 years – National Declassification Center • • Uses page-level pass/fail declassification threshold Low-hanging fruit approach Lack of resources 1, 171 JFK documents • Reclassifications: Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Department of State nuclear arsenal publications • Classification of previously unclassified material – Hillary Clinton’s emails • Acknowledged overclassification

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) • Names of informants • Human subjects research • Medical records • Military service records (handout) • POW/MIA research

Law Enforcement • Procedure manuals for investigations • Internal rules • Interagency communications

Political Secrecy and Censorship • Climate change research – George W. Bush Administration altered 2003 EPA draft report on the environment • 2004 Taguba report on Abu Ghraib abuse of prisoners was classified • Book written by former FBI counterintelligence agent was suppressed by FBI

Trade Secrets • Exemption 4 under FOIA • Private/confidential information submitted to government agencies – Securities and Exchange Commission – Environmental Protection Agency

The Courts and Secrecy • Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court’s legal opinions and orders • Military commissions for terrorists

Here today, gone tomorrow • Secrecy orders on patents • Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Department of Defense, Department of Energy reports after 9/11 • Los Alamos National Laboratory technical reports • NASA technical reports (handout) • ERIC documents • DOI web site

Cultural property & privacy • Archaeological sites • Human remains • Department of Hawaiian Home Lands records • Census records

Organizations monitoring government secrecy • Center for Effective Government • Federation of American Scientists • National Security Archive • Open. The. Government. org • Sunlight Foundation

What are librarians doing? • Archiving partnerships – Cybercemetery (UNT) – End of term web crawls • Web harvesting • Lobbying Congress • FOIA requests • Free Government Information

Questions?