While Janet Reno was Attorney General, the Justice Department's policy in considering Freedom of Information Act requests leaned towards disclosure. Attorney General John Ashcroft revised the policy In October 2001, imposing new restrictions on the information. He directed agencies "to carefully consider national security, effective law enforcement and personal privacy before releasing information."

Ashcroft also said the Justice Department would defend agencies' decisions not to release information if there was a ``sound legal basis'' for such withholding under FOIA. Under the Reno policy, Justice would defend an agency's withholding information only when the agency reasonably foresaw that disclosure would harm an interest protected by an FOIA exemption.

Turns out, Ashcroft's restrictions have had little effect on the amount of information released. A report released today by the General Accounting Office surveyed almost half of the FOIA officials at government agencies. Some findings:

Forty-eight percent of surveyed government officials who handle FOIA requests said they noticed no changes in what their agencies release to the general public since Ashcroft changed the Justice Department's FOIA memorandum. Only a third of the officials -- 31 percent -- said their agencies release less information to the public because of Ashcroft's 2001 directive, according to the General Accounting Office, Congress's watchdog arm. Of that 31 percent, only 8 percent saw more than a slight decrease, the GAO report said. [link via Behind the Homefront]

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