Frequently Asked Questions
Will this Web site continue to add new features, as well as up-to-date information, in the future?
Yes, this Web site was established during the Washington College of Law's Fall 2007 academic semester and will continue to expand in its coverage of a wide range of "secrecy-related" areas. This will include the addition of new features as the site and its academic subject areas continue to develop during the academic year. In fact, one of the hallmarks of CGS is that it is so up to date.
Is the "Collaboration on Government Secrecy," by virtue of its name, oriented toward secrecy rather than government openness?
No, not at all. CGS is a center of expertise and scholarly research on government secrecy, not for it, and it aims to promote the understanding of secrecy as an overall subject area of growing academic interest. It is devoted to the subject areas variously known as openness in government, freedom of information, and government transparency -- or, viewed another way, "government secrecy," as the other side of the same coin. By the same token, CGS will recognize where there is a distinct need for protection of some government information, due to exceptional sensitivity, and its work will reflect that balanced approach.
How broad is the scope of CGS's overall area of academic interest -- does it cover, for instance, freedom of information issues at the state and local government level?
No. CGS focuses on government openness and secrecy at the federal government level within the United States, not the state and local government level. Its focus also includes the relatively new field of "international transparency," which has seen a dramatic growth with the adoption of freedom of information laws by more than seventy nations worldwide, mostly since the mid-1990s. (In some of these nations, such as the United Kingdom, the national-level law applies at local government levels as well.)
Does this include Congress and the federal judiciary?
No, not directly. Neither Congress nor the judicial branch of the federal government is subject to the openness requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, and each establishes its own rules for making its information available to the public. Questions of "congressional transparency" or access to court records are not within CGS's primary area of academic focus, but that scope certainly does encompass questions of access to executive branch records by and through those two coordinate branches of government. Consequently, matters of "executive privilege" in general and the invocation of the "military and state secrets privilege" in particular, before both Congress and the courts, are included.
So CGS's focus includes matters of national security classification?
Yes, and in more ways than one. First, the proper classification of information on national security grounds under the currently applicable executive order is the basis for a federal agency's invocation of the FOIA's first exemption. Second, it underlies any "state secrets" basis for executive branch refusals to provide information to Congress or to a party in litigation. Third, there also can be a question of proper national security declassification of records and information under an executive order that requires it, such as the current one. See Exec. Order No. 12,958, § 3.3, as amended by Exec. Order No. 13,292, 68 Fed. Reg. 15,315 (Mar. 28, 2003), reprinted in 50 U.S.C. § 435 note. All are matters of government openness versus secrecy.
What about such "post-9/11" issues as agencies "taking down" information from their Web sites and using various document labels to seemingly expand secrecy?
Yes, such issues certainly fall within CGS's scope of academic inquiry. In fact, each of these areas of post-9/11 controversy is characterized by the existence of considerable public misconception about it. For instance, sometimes the removal of information from an agency's Web site is contrary to law or sound public policy, but sometimes it is not. And an agency's use of "safeguarding" labels such as "Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU)" or "Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)" does not expand its legal ability to achieve true "secrecy" -- which is why that burgeoning agency practice can be referred to as "pseudosecrecy." Indeed, one of CGS's primary aims is to foster greater public understanding through the accurate delineation of exactly such legal and policy issues.
Will CGS be conducting educational programs throughout the academic year?
Yes. Beyond its annual International Right-to-Know Day celebration held near the end of September, CGS also conducts a "Sunshine Week" program celebrating annual Freedom of Information Day in mid-March (see "Upcoming Events" for details), as well as additional educational programs when major issues such as amendment of the FOIA arise (see, e.g., CGS's "FOIA Community Conference on the FOIA Amendments of 2007," January 16, 2008).
Is CGS really the first project of its kind at any American law school?
Yes. As a matter of fact, CGS is the first center of expertise, scholarly research, and information resources on the subject of government openness and secrecy at any school of law in the world.
Would CGS be open to possible affiliations with other institutions?
Yes, most particularly as to foundation support of its growth and developmental activities.
