Secrecy

Secrecy

From Page B1

influence peddlers have been wining and dining them to win special favors. Or, when the public is denied access to death records it makes it impossible for citizens to discover ‘cancer clusters’ in their community that might have been caused by nearby toxic waste dumps.”

What about secrecy in the current administration? Alexander had this to say, “Many people think the Bush administration is the most secretive in our nation’s history. Clearly, it is not. Presidents Lincoln and Wilson were much more secretive. But it is correct to say that the Bush administration is probably the most secret in modem times. And many members of the president’s own party believe his administration engages in excessive secrecy and has damaged the concept of open government.”

The federal government’s own experts have warned that over classification of documents is out of control and extremely costly. Consider these statistics offered by Alexander. “The federal government’s Information Security Oversight Office, which keeps tabs on government classification, says the federal government now spends $148 classifying new documents for each $1 it spends declassifying old ones. The cost of classifying and storing those documents rose from $4.7 million to $7.2 million during that same period from 2001 to 2004.”

Alexander concluded, “such excessive secrecy is dangerous because it undermines the basic precept of democracy that gives people the right and the means to monitor the conduct of their public officials.”

Alexander and his wife, Beverly Jorges reside in Washington, D.C. and for the past 11 years have owned Buckeye Farm off of Slate Mills Road in Rappahannock County. Please join RAAC in welcoming Andy Alexander February 10 at 8 p.m. at the Rappahannock library. Call (540) 675-3193 for details.