Editorial: In need of sensitivity training

Friday, March 24, 2006 | 7:17 a.m.

Federal agencies are steering unclassified government documents into categories that, while not labeling them as classified, still prevent them from being readily available to the public.

According to a Cox News Service story, the documents include such publications as the Defense Department's telephone directory, which until four years ago was sold openly in government bookstores. It has since been marked "For Official Use Only" and deemed too sensitive for the public's eyes.

What's more, there are no consistent policies or procedures about placing information into the so-called "sensitive but unclassified" category. And there is no process for challenging such placement, according to reports from the National Security Archive, an independent research institute at George Washington University, and the Congressional Research Service and Government Accountability Office. The latter two perform research and investigations, respectively, for Congress.

The reports show that nearly a third of the agencies that handle most Freedom of Information Act requests allow any employee to stamp documents as "sensitive but unclassified." This results in an unofficial, but effective, exemption to the act that grants public access to government records.

The National Security Archives' report traced the increase to a March 19, 2002, directive from 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. But the order has extended beyond that.

Steven Aftergood, director of the American Federation of Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy, told Cox that the law does not exempt these records from Freedom of Information Act requests, but many agencies treat them as if they are secret. "It results in unnecessary secrecy that leaves citizens in the dark," he said.

But it fits perfectly with the Bush administration's philosophy that there is no such thing as "unnecessary secrecy." This White House thrives on keeping Americans in the dark. Congress should address this issue and make sure that public documents, if not classified, remain public.