“Security guards at the Department of Homeland Security were forced last month to sign agreements not to disclose information the agency deems sensitive — an attempt, according to several current guards, to silence them after recent high-profile revelations of security breaches at DHS.” See “Guards Say Non-Disclosure Agreements Were Used to Hide Security Flaws at DHS” by Patrick Yoest, CQ Homeland Security, April 19.
“While no one is paying much attention, the Bush administration is promoting a reading of an old and largely moribund law that could radically diminish the openness of U.S. government while criminalizing huge swaths of academic debate and journalism,” the Washington Post editorialized today on the AIPAC case. See “Dangerous Prosecution,” April 20.
The FBI’s attempt to gain access to files of the late Jack Anderson “is one of the more outrageous steps in a campaign by the Bush administration to hide information from the public,” according to the Kansas City Star. See “FBI needs to back off,” April 20.
This report serves as a landscape assessment and toolbox from which local governments can negotiate an informed position when it comes to the levers available to them and includes a first-of-its kind analysis of eight executed community benefits agreements.
When a hurricane hits, it’s all hands on deck – that goes for federal data, too. Pulling back from our investments in timely, accurate, and accessible public data will only make us less prepared and put us all at greater risk.
This is bigger than a singular elimination of race and ethnicity questions. It could accelerate the second wave of widespread reductions to demographic data, leaving public health officials with even less information to deliver better health outcomes for all Americans.
Soft law was never meant to be a permanent solution. Treating it as one, and letting the sandcastle stand in for the skyscraper indefinitely, is how we end up with a decade of voluntary commitments and no enforceable accountability to show for it.