On Restoring Open Government: Secrecy in the Bush Administration

Open and accountable government is one of the bedrock principles of our democracy. Yet virtually since Inauguration Day questions have been raised about the Bush Administrations commitment to this principle. News articles and reports by independent groups over the last four years have identified a growing series of instances where the Administration has sought to operate without public or congressional scrutiny.[t]he Bush Administration has acted to restrict the amount of government information that is available. - Executive Summary Secrecy in the Bush Administration Produced at the request of Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) this report is a comprehensive examination of secrecy in the Bush Administration. It analyzes how the Administration has implemented our nations major open government laws - yet have worked consistently to undermine them. The information contained in ON RESTORING OPEN GOVERNMENT: Secrecy in the Bush Administration covers a wide assortment of topics from restricting the public release of the papers of past presidents to expansion of the authority to classify documents to the dramatic increase in the number of documents classified. Among the documents the Bush Administration have classified and refused to release to the public and members of Congress include: - Contact between energy companies and Vice President Dick Cheneys energy task force - Communications between the Defense Department and the Vice Presidents office about contracts awarded to Halliburton - Documents describing the prison abuses at Abu Ghraib and the militarys related actions - Information regarding what The White House knew about Iraqs weapons of mass destruction Included is a section relating to Restoring Open Government (H.R. Bill 5073) proposed in September 2004 by Rep. Henry A. Waxman and referred to The Committee on Government Reform.