"Suit Decries New Secrecy in Government"

[GreenPartyVoter]

WASHINGTON (AP) - 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.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20051206/D8EB2BL0A.html

[Poet Lariat]

1. Government instituted secrecy, torture, corporate controlled media

...fascist regime at the helm. What decade is this again?

[SpiralHawk]

2. Shhhhh! Only the occult Skull & Boner Cabal in the White House

is supposed to know about those things.

Why don't you just move along. There's nothing to see here. It will be good for you health if you just move along. Now.

And remember, Big BushCo loves you.

[Poet Lariat]

3. Know about what?

...Hey, how 'bout those Yankees. How are the kids doing by the way? Good to hear from you again. Gotta go. (Sounds of whistling and walking away slightly faster with each step)

[Poet Lariat]

4. Kicked and Recommended very very quietly

I stepped into GPV's post earlier today and left quietly as instructed. Nothing to see here. Came back tonight and it had not moved. Has this already been covered in another thread...if anyone knows?

Thanks GreenPartyVoter. Important info. that needs coverage.

More from the article.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20051206/D8EB2BL0A.html
>snip
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."
>snip<

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.
>snip<

TRAC report on lawsuit: http://trac.syr.edu/foia/

This administration has shown all too often that it is does not use secrecy in a responsible manner. Therefore, I submit that this lawsuit should summarily move to the top of the docket!

[Poet Lariat]

5. Kick

:kick:

[Wordie]

6. I'm not certain if I truely understand the issues here...don't those gov't

workers have privacy rights also and doesn't this database somehow compromise those rights? On the other hand, I'm really uncomfortable with the secrecy that GWB justifies by referring to "terra" - so I'm stumped on this one. It deserves some discussion and hashing out so I am recommending it. Hopefully those with more understanding will weigh in on it.