White House doubled classified documents

WASHINGTON, April 30 (UPI) -- More than 80 U.S. government agencies collectively reported making 15.6 million decisions in 2004 to classify information, nearly double the number in 2001.

By keeping secret so many directives and actions, the administration has precluded the public -- and Congress -- from knowing about some of the most significant decisions and acts of the White House, the Chicago Tribune reported.

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the administration has based much of its need for secrecy on the imperative of protecting national security at a time of war. Yet experts say President George W. Bush and his closest advisers demonstrated their proclivity for privacy well before Sept. 11.

Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have made it clear they are intent on reclaiming presidential powers lost by Bush's predecessors -- an erosion of power that dates back to Richard Nixon's losing battle to preserve the privacy of his papers after the Watergate scandal.

"Is it a political process that is open to wide-ranging debate, or is it more like a closed circle of elite decision-makers?" asked Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.

"I think we've learned, often to our disappointment, that it's the latter," he said.