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Steering Committee
Steven Aftergood Federation of American ScientistsBill Allison Sunlight FoundationMary Alice Baish American Association of Law LibrariesGary D. Bass OMB Watch*Tom Blanton National Security Archive*Beth Daley Project on Government OversightLucy Dalglish Reporters Committee for Freedom of the PressCharles Davis National Freedom of Information CoalitionLeslie Harris Center for Democracy & TechnologyRobert Leger Society of Professional JournalistsConrad Martin Fund for Constitutional Government**Michael D. Ostrolenk Liberty CoalitionReece Rushing Center for American ProgressPeg Seminario AFL-CIODavid L. Sobel Electronic Frontier Foundation
* Co-Chair ** Ex ofcio member
1742 Connecticut Avenue, 3rd FloorWashington, DC 20009(202) 332-OPEN (6736)info@openthegovernment.org
 About OpenTeGovernment.org 
OpenTheGovernment.org is an unprecedented coalition of consumer and good government groups, librar-ians, environmentalists, labor, journalists, and others united to push back governmental secrecy and pro-mote openness. We are focused on making the federal government a more open place to make us safer,strengthen public trust in government, and support our democratic principles.To join the coalition, individuals are invited to read and sign the Statement of Values. Organizationsare welcome to visit our site, read the Statement of Values, and contact us if interested in becoming acoalition partner:www.OpenTheGovernment.org.
THIS REPORT
was made possible by the generous support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the CS Fund.The authors of this report are Patrice McDermott and Amy Fuller Bennett. The report
beneted from the helpful advice and assistance of the OpenTheGovernment.org Steering
Committee, including its co-chairs Gary Bass of OMB Watch and Tom Blanton of the NationalSecurity Archive.We would like to express special appreciation to Kristin Adair, Steve Aftergood, Todd Harrison,
and the Information Security Oversight Ofce at the National Archives.
 
1
Secrecy Report Card 2009
By The Numbers
CLASSIFIED INFORMAION
•ClassicationActivityStillRemainsHigh
 
In 2008, the number of original classication decisions decreased to 203,541, a 13% drop
from 2007, but the numbers remain high.
•Almost$200SpentCreatingandSecuringOldSecretsforEveryTaxDollarSpentDeclassifying
 
The government spent nearly $200 maintaining the secrets already on the books for every one
dollar the government spent declassifying documents in 2008, a 2% increase in one year. Atthe same time, 16% fewer pages were declassied than in 2007.
•NationalIntelligenceProgramBudgetShowsSignicantGrowth
 
The FY2008 budget for the National Intelligence Program was $47.5 billion, a 9.2% increase
over 2007.
•19%ofDODFY2008AcquisitionBudgetIsClassiedor“Black”
 
 “Black” programs accounted for about $34 billion, or 19 percent of the (FY) 2009 Department
of Defense (DOD) acquisition funding requested in 2007. Classied acquisition funding contin
-
ues to be more than double in real terms the level of funding in FY 1995.
•MandatoryDeclassicationReviewProcessYieldsInformation,ButBacklogsGrowing
 
In 2008, agencies received 8,264 new initial requests for Mandatory Declassication Review(MDR), of which 90% were processed, resulting in the declassication of information in240,510 pages: 73% in full; 19% in part. For 2008, almost 6,000 initial requests were carriedover into 2009—a 23% growth in the backlog.
NAIONAL SECURIY LEERS
•NationalSecurityLetterRequestsDecreasefrom2006
 
The Department of Justice reports 24,744 requests pertaining to roughly 7,225 different U.S.persons were made in 2008, an 18% increase over requests in 2007—but a 50% decrease
from reported 2006 numbers.
“SAE SECRES” PRIVILEGE
•ReportedInvocationsContinuetoRise
 
Invoked only 6 times between 1953 and 1976, the privilege has been used a reported 48
of 00

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