Data on civilian workers withheld

A research group has sued under the Freedom of Information Act.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Breaking a tradition of openness that began in 1816, the Bush administration has without explanation withheld the names and work locations of about 900,000 of its civilian workers, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
"Citizens have a right to know who is working for the government," said Adina Rosenbaum, attorney for the co-directors of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group at Syracuse University, who sued under the Freedom of Information Act to get the data.
Since 1989, TRAC has been posting on the Internet a database with the name, work location, salary and job category of all 2.7 million federal civilian workers except those in some law enforcement agencies. The data are often used by reporters and government watchdog groups to monitor policies and detect waste or abuse.
Public oversight
Recently, the Union of Concerned Scientists and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility used the database to identify and locate U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists for a survey. Many of the scientists complained of political intervention into their research.
TRAC used the data to monitor the Bush administration's promise to increase security along the Canadian border after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Six months later, TRAC found Border Patrol agents on that border were up from 331 to just 346. Another year later, the number had reached 515, but not one was assigned to the Canada-Alaska border despite Alaska's potential strategic targets.
The New York Daily News used the data to find the names of guards at a federal detention center where prisoner abuse was alleged. Another reporter used it to find the names of Transportation Security Administration guards assigned to New York's LaGuardia Airport to pursue cargo theft allegations.
"Secret governors are incompatible with a free government," the TRAC co-directors wrote the federal Office of Personnel Management last Feb. 2 when the agency withheld the data. "Basic information about the employees who carry out the day-to-day actions of government is critical for meaningful public oversight."
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