Document about federal Documents. Free of charge.

So I was wandering the internets today and I stumbled upon an interesting article.  Did you know that the federal government spends almost $200 to keep a secret for each dollar spent to reveal a secret?  I've never thought about the comparison before.

NINE BILLION dollars were spent to hide documents in 2008 compared to 45 million dollars spent to declassify (openthegovernment.org).  Go 'head, read that line again.  Try it out loud - it resonates better =)

It's quite a number when you come to think of the money we spend to keep so many secrets that I am guessing we could do without containing.  Not all secrets, just a large portion.  (see previous post about Able Danger and Operation: Dark Heart where roughly 10% of the federally censored information was actually worth censoring for national security's sake - according to one 'expert'.)

Strangely, while the cost of keeping the documents secretive went up slightly over the past couple of years, the amount of documents actually granted to be revealed went down in the same time-frame. (Roughly 2006-2008).

Have any of you heard of this disparity in the mass media as a whole?  I have not.  Should the mass media bring this statistic to a larger audience?  Or is this the price we pay for a free(ish), safe(ish) nation?  This seems like it would be a great piece for the 24-hour news channels because of the simplicity in the statistic.  A real time-chewer.

Here's the full story that initially caught my attention.  It was written by Marian Wang of ProPublica.org.  She created her article through the statistics compiled at openthegovernment.org.  Accompanying articles may be found below.

The federal government has significantly reduced the backlog of Freedom of Information requests in the last year, but has been slow to act in other areas related to government secrecy, according to a new secrecy report card by OpenTheGovernment.org, a coalition of more than 70 watchdog groups.

“The country elected a president who has promised the most open, transparent and accountable federal Executive Branch in history,” the report said. “The record to date is mixed, but some indicators are trending in the right direction.”

Perhaps among the more promising trends the group highlighted: Freedom of Information request backlogs were reduced by 40 percent across the federal government. 

The new report, released Tuesday, covers the last three months of the Bush administration and the first nine months of the Obama administration. OpenTheGovernment.org’s director, Patrice McDermott, noted other “encouraging” trends, such as a decline in the creation of new national security secrets.

According to the report, the number of federal workers who have “original classification authority” — or the authority to create a new document and classify it as “top secret,” “secret” or “confidential” — dropped from 4,109 in 2008 to 2,557 last year. Original classifications, accordingly, have dropped by about 10 percent.

Decisions to declassify records, however, also declined by 8 percent compared to the year before. In all, government agencies spent nearly $9 billion last year "maintaining the secrets on the books," the report describes, while spending about $45 million on declassifying documents.

If you'd like some more statistical information about FOIA requests, sunshinethegovernment.org has an extensive backlog.

If you'd like to make a FOIA request (good luck!), the official form may be found at http://www.fcc.gov/foia/.  This blog is not responsible for any denials!

Sources:
http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/watchdogs-govt-spent-196-maintaining-secrets-for-every-1-spent-declassifyin

http://www.alternet.org/rights/99080/how_much_have_taxpayers_coughed_up_for_the_most_secretive_white_house_ever/

http://openthegovernment.org/

http://www.sunshineingovernment.org/index.php?cat=213