STATEMENT OF SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY OVERSIGHT OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91B00389R000500190014-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 3, 2013
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: August 2, 1988
• Content Type: MISC

Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/01/03: CIA-RDP91 B00389R000500190014-2
U.S. SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY
VERMONT
STATEMENT OF SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY
OVERSIGHT OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT
AUGUST 2, 1988
Good morning and welcome. We come together at a significant
time in the history of the Freedom of Information Act. For the past
eight years, this Administration has waged an assault on the FOIA
with every weapon in its arsenal -- executive orders, budget cuts,
fee guidelines, and legislative proposals clearly designed to gut
the FOIA. FOIA requesters have been treated as burdens, and not as
the beneficiaries of a statute whose fundamental premise is that
American citizens have the right to know about the activities of our
government.
The Administration has many complaints about the Freedom of
Information Act. Administration officials say it is too
time-consuming to respond to requests for information, that it costs
too much money to photocopy government records, and that public
disclosure of agencies' activities only makes running the federal
government more difficult.
These are excuses for government secrecy. And they could be
an impenetrable shield to hide failed polices, to hide the waste of
public resources and the mismanagement of government operations, or
to hide the corruption of public officials -- were it not for our
continued efforts to safeguard the Freedom of Information Act.
FOIA was established specifically to deter secrecy in
government. It creates a statutory right to request records held by
federal agencies. FOIA makes available to each American citizen
information to deal with the complexity of government and to
understand its actions and purposes.
During its twenty-year history, the Freedom of Information
Act has led to the disclosure of much government waste and
wrongdoing. It has expanded public knowledge of health, safety and
environmental risks. It has been the key to public knowledge of
federal contract discrimination, medicare fraud, dangerous consumer
products, harmful drugs and unsafe medical devices.
In just the past year, FOIA requests have revealed that the
FBI maintained files on distinguished American writers whose work
was considered suspicious; that tobacco companies were privately
aware of the risks of cigarette smoking, while publicly denying
them; that safety problems at NASA were directly linked to poor
management; and even that funding for the Contras went to buy
volleyball nets and color TVs.
In America we are the beneficiaries of a law that allows all
of us to oversee the activities of our government, to pierce the
cloak of secrecy, and to obtain the information we need to correct
any government abuse. We -- the Congress, the press, and the
public -- share this responsibility.
This hearing will provide us all with an opportunity to
determine how well this, Administration is upholding the Freedom of
Information Act.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/01/03: CIA-RDP91 B00389R000500190014-2