That's Secret!!!!

From the FAS Project on government secrecy:

NRO EXPANDS USE OF OPERATIONAL FILES EXEMPTION

The National Reconnaissance Office is sharply curtailing itsresponse to Freedom of Information Act requests by expanding its interpretation of "operational files" that are exempt from theFOIA. According to statute, operational files are records "that document the means by which foreign intelligence or counterintelligence is collected through scientific and technical systems."

Congress exempted NRO operational files from the FOIA in 2002 based on a presumption that such records would be highly classified and unreleasable in any case. But the NRO now contends that routine administrative records such as budget justification documents prepared for Congress are"operational files" and that they are therefore exempt from review and disclosure under FOIA even when they are unclassified. It was not always so. As recently as last year, the NRO released unclassified portions of its Congressional Budget Justification Book for FY 1998 in response to a FOIA request. That material is posted here: http://www.fas.org/irp/nro/fy98/index.html

But in response to a similar request for unclassified budget records for FY 2006, the NRO said that all such records are now considered operational files that are exempt from review or release. In response to an administrative appeal, they reaffirmed their position in a May 18 denial letter: http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2005/05/nro051805.pdf

The NRO budget justification files are produced each year for the express purpose of dissemination outside of the Agency. They are certainly not what Congress had in mind in granting NRO a FOIA exemption for "operational files." But in the absence of effective oversight, it may take litigation to prove the point. Exemptions for "operational files" have also been granted to theCIA, NGA and NSA. Another such exemption has been requested by the Defense Intelligence Agency. It was included in the Senate version of the 2006 Defense Authorization Act (section 922 of S.1042) but not in the House version (HR 1815).

***Well, if they can hide it, they're gonna do it, in this dishonest BushCo administration.
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