Many of these records are not even classified.
I have sent dozens of letters over the course of two years to federal agencies requesting these records, and I have only been stonewalled. In fact, disclosed emails made available by the Freedom of Information Act shows employees of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency scheming to obstruct my request for information on the origins of COVID-19.
The American people deserve transparency and accountability. If we are being asked to sacrifice those values in the name of “national security,” then that definition must be tailored to protect only what is necessary to preserve our sources and methods.
In the Pentagon Papers case, Justice Potter Stewart remarked upon the wisdom of avoiding secrecy for its own sake. In his concurring opinion, Justice Stewart wrote, “when everything is classified, then nothing is classified, and the system becomes one to be disregarded by the cynical or the careless, and to be manipulated by those intent on self-protection or self-promotion.”
It is well past time we restore transparency and accountability in government. In the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, for which I am ranking member, we have a unique opportunity to address overclassification by the executive branch, and I plan on continuing to do just that.
