Thirty-Six Groups Sign on to Help Fight the CIA’s Covert Attack on Declassification Review. And What’s Next??

Thirty-six groups have signed on to fight to force the CIA to repeal new regulations which charge the public outrageous fees for the opportunity to challenge its secrecy claims. The fees, which can run requesters up to $72 per hour even if no information is found or released, effectively cut off access to a system that researchers, historians, public interest advocates and others have used successfully to challenge the CIA’s extreme secrecy — the Mandatory Declassification Review process. For background of how –and why (to evade accountability)– the Agency did this, see here.

Below is the text of the letter which was sent to the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper; the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, David Petraeus; and the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office, John Fitzpatrick.

The thirty-six groups who signed on represent an extremely wide swath of powerful advocates. The CIA’s covert attack is not so covert any more. The groups are:

American Association of Law Libraries

American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression

American Library Association

Bill of Rights Defense Committee

Brennan Center for Justice

Californians Aware

Center for Media and Democracy

Center for National Security Studies

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington – CREW

Collaboration on Government Secrecy

The Constitution Project

Electronic Frontier Foundation – EFF

Electronic Privacy Information Center – EPIC

Federation of American Scientists

Freedom of Information Center at the Missouri School of Journalism

iSolon.org

James Madison Project

Liberty Coalition

MuckRock

National Coalition Against Censorship

National Coalition for History

National Freedom of Information Coalition

National Security Archive

National Security Counselors

OMB Watch

OpenTheGovernment.org

Project On Government Oversight – POGO

Progressive Librarians Guild

Public Citizen

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Society of American Archivists

Society of Professional Journalists

Special Libraries Association

Sunlight Foundation

Utah Foundation for Open Government

Washington Coalition for Open Government

There is also an online petition for individuals that oppose this regulation to sign here.

And at the same time that this coalition is using political and bureaucratic pressure to roll back this reg, Kel McClanahan at National Security Counselors has dropped a class action lawsuit to thwart this regulation –and other violations– in the courts. (More info on this lawsuit here.)

So what’s next?

The Obama administration could probably fix this problem with one phone call to the Agency. After all, the President would look extremely hypocritical this April if he traveled to the Open Government Partnership annual meeting in Brasilia, Brazil and was asked why his administration allowed this extreme step back for transparent government to occur during its watch.

The CIA’s action also certainly merits Congressional investigation. The Senate Judiciary Committee and House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform have strong records of protecting citizen’s access to government information. Senators Leahy, Cornyn, and Grassley –longtime advocates for the public’s right to know– will be quick to recognize the impropriety of this CIA action. Do your representatives fight for your ability to access information? Give them a call or sent them a letter.

Finally, there’s a lever that the Director of the Information and Security Oversight Office, John Fitzpatrick, could pull. President Obama’s Executive Order on Classification (13526) states in section 6.2(c) that, “The Attorney General, upon request by the head of an agency or the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office, shall render an interpretation of this order with respect to any question arising in the course of its administration.” Fitzpatrick has the power to ask Attorney General Holder to render an interpretation regarding whether or not the CIA can charge up to $72 for MDR searches (not to mention $15 for printing just one piece of paper). Count two of the National Security Counselors’ complaint seems to make it pretty clear that what the CIA did was illegal… I wonder what the AG would think.

The fight goes on. And the Agency no longer has the advantage of surprise.