Sunshine Week special: AP says administration is more secretive than ever about public records

It's becoming harder to get government files from the Obama administration, which increasingly cites national security as the reason to withhold or censor information, report Ted Bridis and Jack Gillum of The Associated Press.

In a story timed for the annual observance of Sunshine Week, which promotes the value of open government, AP reports that the administration denied or censored more often than ever records requested under the Freedom of Information Act, and did that more often than it granted records without redacting, or removing information, from documents.

"The administration cited more legal exceptions it said justified withholding materials and refused a record number of times to turn over files quickly that might be especially newsworthy," AP reports. "Most agencies also took longer to answer records requests. . . . The administration has made few meaningful improvements in the way it releases records despite its promises from Day 1 to become the most transparent administration in history."

AP said its request "for contracts with public-relations companies to promote Obama's health-care law has been pending for more than one year. Requests for files about the Affordable Care Act and the IRS's treatment of tax-exempt political groups have languished in government offices for months. Similarly, the AP has waited for more than 10 months for emails between the IRS and outside Democratic super PACs about tea party groups."

Requests for information rose 8 percent last year, but the government's response to requests rose only 2 percent, AP reports. The National Security Agency, which has come under scrutiny because of its electronic surveillance programs, reported a 138 percent increase. AP's 1,600-word story is at http://bigstory.ap.org/article/us-cites-security-more-censor-deny-records.