Congress urged to help make more 'sensitive' information public

Congress urged to help make more 'sensitive' information public

By Chris Strohm, CongressDaily
cstrohm@nationaljournal.com
The top official in charge of establishing information sharing polices for the government told lawmakers Wednesday he believes there could be a drastic reduction in the number of categories used to restrict information from the public, but Congress might have to pass legislation to get it done.

Thomas McNamara, who became program manger for creating a new national information sharing environment only two months ago, said federal agencies do not have any legal justification for most information they withhold from the public.

"There is, quite frankly, much that has no legal basis and doesn't deserve a legal basis. We should be getting that stuff out," he told the House Homeland Security Intelligence Subcommittee.

The Government Accountability Office reported in March that agencies use 56 different "sensitive but unclassified" categories to restrict information. That includes such categories as "sensitive drinking water-related information," "not available national technical information service" and "protected battery information."

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34062&dcn=todaysnews

When is my life considered top secret??