Dear all, A study conducted by OpenTheGovernment.org in the USA in 2006-07 shows that for every US$1 spent on disclosing a classified document the Federal Government spends US$ 195 on keeping it sceret. OpenTheGovernment.org is a coalition of consumer and good government groups, librarians, environmentalists, labour, journalists etc.working to push back governmental secrecy and promote openeness in the US Federal Government. The full text of the Secrecy Report Card 2008 is available at: http://www.openthegovernment.org/otg/SecrecyReportCard08.pdf Other highlights of the Secrecy Report Card: The US passed its Freedom of Information Act in 1966. OpenTheGovernment.org has been evaluating the levels of scerecy and openenss in the Federal Government for some time now and has published four reports so far. The highlights of the fifth report are as follows: . FOIA Requests Continue to Rise; Backlogs Problems Persist
Almost 22 million FOIA requests were received in 2007, an increase of almost 2% over last year. The 25 departments and agencies that handle the bulk of the third-party information requests, however, received 63,000 fewer requests than 2006 - but processed only 2,100 more. . Costs rise, but at 25 agencies expenditures fell In 2007, the total cost of FOIA implementation across the government increased 16%. But a 2008 study revealed that, in 2007, FOIA spending at 25 key agencies fell by $7 million to $233.8 million and the agencies put 209 fewer people to work processing FOIA requests. . 128 New Patents Kept Secret, 5,002 "Secrecy Orders" in Effect In 2007, the federal government closed the lid on 128 patents. Overall, that brings the total number of inventions kept under "secrecy orders" to 5,002. . Whistleblowers Lawsuits Recover Billions for Taxpayers; 900 Cases Wait DOJ Action In FY 2007, suits brought by whistleblowers accounted for $1.45 billion of the $2 billion the United States obtained in settlements and judgments concerning fraud on the United States. However, DOJ faces an ever-growing backlog of over 900 cases. . More than 25% of all awards are not competed at all In 2007, 26.2 percent ($114.2 billion) of federal contracts' dollars were completely uncompeted; only one-third of contracts dollars were subject to full and open competition. On average since 2000, more than 25% of all contract funding was not competed and fully and openly competed contracts have dropped by almost 25% There are more interesting details in the report. Happy reading! Thanks Venkatesh Nayak Programme Coordinator Access to Information Programme Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative B-117, I Floor, Sarvodaya Enclave New Delhi- 110 017 tel: 91-11- 2686 4678/ 2685 0523 fax: 91-11- 2686 4688 website: www.humanrightsinitiative.org alternate email: <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
