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A new report that we鈥檙e releasing today makes the case that out-of-control secrecy is a serious disease that is hurting American democracy. More and more of our government鈥檚 actions are being hidden from the people who are supposed to be ultimately in charge of that government. A story about in today鈥檚 Washington Post shows just how timely our report is.

Consider: there are more than holding security clearances. The number of classified documents has exploded in the past decade, and the government in 2010 on security classification activities. While there is a narrow band of information that the government can legitimately keep secret 鈥� such as information about military weaponry, tactical movements and defensive plans 鈥� our government routinely classifies vast quantities of information that go way beyond such categories. Cases of the government declaring information 鈥渟ecret鈥� that are just plain silly regularly come to light. Classification is regularly used not to protect the national interest, but to protect the bureaucratic interests of particular agencies and particular administrations. It is regularly abused to manipulate the American public on behalf of those interests.

This is a problem not just civil libertarians are worried about 鈥� it鈥檚 one that has been widely and repeatedly recognized across the political spectrum, and even by those at the center of our security establishment.

For example, former Bush Administration CIA Director Porter Goss , 鈥渨e overclassify very badly.鈥� Bush鈥檚 Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair that 鈥渢here is a great deal of overclassification鈥�. We need to do fundamental work on the system.鈥� Thomas Kean, chairman of the 9/11 Commission (and former Republican governor of New Jersey) , 鈥淵ou鈥檇 just be amazed at the kind of information that鈥檚 classified 鈥� everyday information, things we all know from the newspaper鈥� We鈥檙e better off with openness.鈥�

But, the problem has never been truly tackled and has only gotten worse.

When President Obama came into office, in American government. Since that time, his administration has taken some positive steps toward that goal 鈥� but has also slid backwards on a number of fronts, frequently passing up opportunities for bold action to address secrecy in favor of timid and incremental steps. Overall, to make a dent in this enormous problem.

This failure just confirms it: nibbling around the edges of this alarming problem will not cut it, drastic measures are required.

Today, we鈥檙e releasing a report on this subject with just that title: 鈥�Drastic Measures Required: Congress needs to Overhaul U.S. Secrecy Laws and Increase Oversight of the Secret Security Establishment鈥�

In the report, we lay out the scope of the problem and analyze its unfortunate consequences for the operation of our government, for our national security, and for our democracy at large. The report asserts that Congress must overhaul U.S secrecy laws and increase its oversight of the secret security establishment in order to rein in the out-of-control secrecy that is poisoning our democracy. We present a number of detailed recommendations for how, exactly, Congress should act to reform the 鈥�state secrets privilege,鈥� strengthen Congressional oversight of national security programs, and regulate the use of classification by the executive branch. (If you want some backup for the broad statements I made at the top of this blog, it鈥檚 all in the report.)

The right to see what our government is doing is one of the most fundamental checks and balances in our system of government. At the same time, the ability to make things secret is a very significant power. Like all significant powers, is inevitably abused unless it鈥檚 subject to very rigorous checks and balances. That has not been happening and the situation is getting worse.

Congress has approved trillions of dollars for efforts to secure the nation from terrorist attacks. You would think that the disease of secrecy eating away at our system of open government would be an issue of the highest priority. After all, excessive secrecy has led to tragically misguided decisions that have harmed this nation more than any terrorist attack. As former Secretary of State Colin Powell , terrorists 鈥渁re dangerous criminals, and we must deal with them,鈥� but 鈥渢he only thing that can really destroy us is us.鈥�

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