by Jerry Curtis

Created on: July 04, 2009   Last Updated: July 07, 2009

Government agencies should be required to keep their unclassified information available to the public where access is appropriate and lawful. Unclassified information, by definition, is information that if disclosed will do no harm to national security. On the other hand, there is a type of information that is not ordinarily available to the general public and must be safeguarded for the public good. For example, documents designated "For Official Use Only" might include official law enforcement and investigation records, tax returns, sensitive and private medical records, etc. Such information is not, in the strictest sense, "kept secret." It is, however, safeguarded from unauthorized access by those who use the information to the detriment of good public order or simply to hurt another person.

The Internal Revenue Service, for example, has millions of financial records on U.S. citizens. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, likewise, conducts thousands of background checks each year for security clearances. Those records, while not usually classified, must for obvious reasons be protected. On the other hand, records of agency inspection or disciplinary actions taken against employees, could prove embarrassing if made public. Nevertheless, taxpayers have a right to know what is going on inside our government.

Sometimes in the guise of "public interest," our government has tried to keep agency records away from either the public or our elected representatives. During the Mixon Watergate scandal, Administration lawyers argued that recorded conversations between President Nixon should not be released to Congressional investigators. Those conversations, while not classified, Nixon's lawyers argued, were protected from public scrutiny because of the principle of Executive Privilege. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled otherwise and the tapes proved Nixon's undoing.

The tapes and the aftermath of Watergate led to our lawmakers' passing two important and landmark pieces of legislation that affected the access and protection of unclassified government agency records. The Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts of the mid-1970s were responses to Nixon Administration violation of personal privacy of political enemies and subsequent coverups through stonewalling access by investigators. The Freedom of Information Act allows the general public to petition federal agencies for copies of unclassified records. The Privacy Act protects personal and sensitive information from unauthorized use and disclosure.

So should government agencies be allowed to keep unclassified information secret? The answer is no because unclassified information does not require the same protection as secret information. On the other hand, government agencies are required by law to safeguard, protect and prevent unauthorized disclosure of unclassified information about public business. Any private citizen, though, can petition our government for copies of records and take the government to court if the agency decides against giving out the information.

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