Editorial: Keeping government open

Friday, April 14, 2006 | 7:19 a.m.

A House committee has unanimously approved a measure that would, among other things, eliminate the "sensitive but unclassified" designation the Bush administration uses to restrict access to public documents.

Documents labeled with the category aren't classified, and the public isn't excluded from viewing them. But recent reports - including one from the Government Accountability Office - have shown that the use of the category has increased and that policies and guidelines for applying it are inconsistent.

About a third of the agencies that handle most of the Freedom of Information Act requests allow any employee to stamp documents as "sensitive but unclassified," resulting in an unofficial, but effective, exemption. The increase stems from a March 2002 directive from then-White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card that asked all federal agencies to review their methods for safeguarding sensitive information about weapons of mass destruction.

According to the Newspaper Association of America, the "sensitive but unclassified" tag resulted in withholding such information as the name and contact information for the Transportation Security Administration's ombudsman. That defies logic, as the ombudsman is the TSA representative charged with dealing with the public.

The House Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., passed the legislation last week on a 32-0 vote, illustrating a growing unease over Congress for the Bush administration's distaste for conducting the public's business in public.

The measure, which still must be approved by the full House and Senate, also calls for executive branch officials to reveal all contacts with lobbyists or private industry representatives seeking to influence government decisions. Although the provision excludes the president, vice president and their chiefs of staff, it could help curtail the type of covertness that shrouded Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, the membership of which wasn't made public.

The House could consider the legislation later this month as part of its larger ethics and lobbying reform bill. With any luck, the House measure and a Senate counterpart will eliminate at least some of the secrecy that pervades the Bush administration's way of doing business.