We could barely believe this either. In an elegant summary of the Bush administration’s record on secrecy and obstruction of justice, Radar reports that White House document shredding costs have increased more than six-fold since 2000. [Radar]
In 2000, the federal government spent only $452,807 on “contracts for paper shredding services,” according to the new site, USASpending.gov. By 2006, that number skyrocketed to $2.9 million.
What on earth could they be shredding? Hmm… let us think. How about millions of politicized e-mails, records of Jack Abramoff’s White House visits, Cheney’s energy meeting transcripts, descriptions of the CIA torture tapes, internal documents related to the firing of the U.S. attorneys, or State Department files on shady Iraqi reconstruction contracts? [House Government Oversight]
Not only that, but the Bush administration has also been achingly slow in response to document requests under the Freedom of Information Act. [MicCheck]
In 2006, only two of every five requests were processed, and the “number of exemptions cited to support the withholding of information… increased 83 percent since 1998.” [Think Progress]
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Comments
There also happen to be new laws out about information protection outside of all the hoopla of secret documents. That could be just “one” other reason for the increase. Identity theft on the rise – spying – corporate theft – lots of things happening now days that require the security of paper shredding.
— Debbie Shannon - Dec 18, 08:26 AM - #