I hope that you'll use your position in the Judiciary Committee to support
S.394, the Open Government Act.  S.394 would add force to the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) by prescribing enforceable time limits for agencies
to respond to requests, implementing news media status rules that recognise
freelancers and Internet journalists, and providing incentives for agency
employees to improve FOIA compliance.  These reforms are necessary to help
reverse this government's habit of classifying or otherwise obstructing
access to information that does not truly pertain to security but is merely
embarrassing or difficult for the people and institutions in power.  As J
William Leonard, director of the National Archives' Information Security
Oversight Office told a House panel last year, "It is no secret that government
classifies too much information," and the amount of materials that should
not be classified at all "is disturbingly increasing."  Government secrecy is
distorting history, hiding government error, and reinforcing this government's
adversarial relationship with the public.