DistantNews
Support us
🇺🇸 United States /Crime & Justice

Pentagon proposes new secrecy power to withhold unclassified records from FOIA

From CBS News · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • The Pentagon is requesting new authority from Congress to withhold unclassified records from public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
  • This proposed change would allow the defense secretary to exempt certain "controlled unclassified information" if disclosure is deemed harmful to national defense and outweighs public interest.
  • Transparency advocates and civil liberties groups express strong opposition, warning it could significantly reduce public scrutiny of the Defense Department.

The Pentagon is seeking broad new authority from Congress to withhold unclassified records from public access, a move transparency advocates warn could severely limit the public's ability to scrutinize the nation's largest federal agency. The proposal aims to create a new federal law allowing the defense secretary to exempt specific "controlled unclassified information" (CUI) from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The last thing the government needs is a new power to withhold information under the FOIA

— Brett KaufmanSenior counsel with the ACLU's Center for Democracy, expressing concern about the Pentagon's proposal.

This exemption would apply if the U.S. military determines the records relate to national defense vulnerabilities and that the harm from disclosure outweighs the public interest. Brett Kaufman, senior counsel for the ACLU's Center for Democracy, criticized the proposal, stating that the government already faces a "massive overclassification problem" and does not need new powers to withhold information under FOIA.

The CUI system, established under an Obama-era executive order, standardized the safeguarding of sensitive but unclassified information, replacing various "For Official Use Only" markings. However, CUI designation itself does not grant authority to withhold records from the public. Agencies are still required to use FOIA's nine statutory exemptions for withholding documents.

Controlled unclassified information is already very problematic because it's not very carefully defined and it's used to protect lots of different kinds of information

— Greg WilliamsDirector of the Center for Defense Information at the Project on Government Oversight, commenting on CUI.

The Pentagon's proposal would alter this by allowing the Defense Department to use CUI as a primary basis for withholding records, rather than just an administrative marking. Greg Williams of the Project on Government Oversight called the proposal a "significant concern," predicting it would make obtaining information through FOIA much more difficult. He noted that CUI is already problematic due to its broad definition and frequent use, with a general guideline for contractors being to "mark it as CUI" when in doubt.

when in doubt, mark it as CUI

— Greg WilliamsDescribing the general guidance for marking information as CUI when he was a contractor.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by CBS News. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog