A US government department dumped a trove of sensitive documents late on Christmas Eve just as Washington DC's journalists were heading home for the holidays.

Among the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's (DNI) release - following an FOI request - was 16 pages of heavily redacted communications from the time of the attack on the US embassy in Benghazi, Libya, which killed four US citizens, and information about terror suspect Anwar al-Awlaki.

The move was reminiscent of the British government's attempt to bury all its bad news - including updates on fracking and the bedroom tax - on the last day of parliament before the Christmas break in 36 different statements.

As the Hill reports:

The government and public relations firms have been known to release unflattering information around major holidays or weekends to blunt the news effect.