Fergie's Tech Blog

Analysis: U.S. Secrecy Board Called 'Toothless'

Shaun Waterman writes for UPI:

A special panel set up last year to reduce excessive secrecy in government is being labeled toothless after its chairman told lawmakers he could not act except at the request of the president.

"The statute under which we operate provides that the president must request the board undertake such a review before it can proceed," wrote L. Britt Snider, chairman of the Public Interest Declassification Board to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Government transparency advocates say that if the statute is interpreted that way, it makes the board, in the words of Steven Aftergood, of the Federation of American Scientists, "a White House puppet."

posted by Fergie @ 10/30/2006 09:57:00 AM