That's classified, ma'am.Anecdotally, the Bush administration has earned a reputation for secrecy, whether it be from tight-lipped tight·lipped also tight-lipped adj. 1. Having the lips pressed together. 2. Loath to speak; close-mouthed. See Synonyms at silent. Cabinet officials or then-Attorney General John Ashcroft's 2001 recommendation to the Executive Branch that it err on the side of non-disclosure while processing Freedom of Information Act requests. This reticence ret·i·cence n. 1. The state or quality of being reticent; reserve. 2. The state or quality of being reluctant; unwillingness. 3. An instance of being reticent. Noun 1. is measurable, thanks to the federal government's Information Security Oversight Office The Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) is responsible to the President of the United States for policy and oversight of the Government-wide security classification system and the National Industrial Security Program. . Its annual report, released in April, shows that in George W. Bush's first term the number of new classifications nearly doubled (from 8.7 million documents to 15.7 million), while the number of declassifications was slashed slash v. slashed, slash·ing, slash·es v.tr. 1. To cut or form by cutting with forceful sweeping strokes: slash a path through the underbrush. 2. by three-quarters (from 100 million to 28 million). If current trends continue, during Bush's second term the number of annual classifications should top the number of declassifications for the first time since his father was elected president in 1988. The numbers also reflect the great declassification de·clas·si·fy tr.v. de·clas·si·fied, de·clas·si·fy·ing, de·clas·si·fies To remove official security classification from (a document). de·clas spike during the presidency of Bill Clinton, who signed executive orders in 1994 and 1996 dumping hundreds of millions of World War II records into the public domain. Bush and his deputies Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld have been actively trying to reverse what they see as a dangerous amount of government openness. It looks like they've been successful. [GRAPHICS OMITTED] |
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