Pentagon leaders are asking Congress to expand the kinds of unclassified information about military operations that the department can withhold from t

Pentagon renews effort to withhold more unclassified records - Roll Call

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2021-06-11 18:00:10

Pentagon leaders are asking Congress to expand the kinds of unclassified information about military operations that the department can withhold from the public, continuing what has been an annual tradition for seven years and spanning three administrations.

Officials with the Pentagon general counsel’s office are requesting that the Armed Services committees, in writing the fiscal 2022 defense authorization bill, prescribe changes to the Freedom of Information Act that would limit public access to certain data.

If such a new law is not enacted, it could lead to the disclosure of information that adversaries can use against U.S. troops, whose lives could consequently be “seriously jeopardized,” as could “defense of the homeland,” the officials said in a report to Congress on Monday.

But transparency advocates are assailing the proposed legislation as an indefensible restriction on the Freedom of Information Act.