Transparency advocates asked Congress to oppose new Defense Department proposals to block reform of the Freedom of Information Act. The department wants a new exemption that is overly broad and could be used to shield information that should be made available to the public. The exemption would allow the department to withhold “information about unclassified tactics, techniques and procedures used by the Armed Forces.” (The Washington Post, August 24, 2016, by Dan Lamothe)
Alex Howard of the Sunlight Foundation, August 25, 2016, writes that passing the new exemption would make it more difficult “to document waste, fraud and misconduct at the Pentagon.” Howard noted that in April of this year Protect Our Defenders used the FOIA to reveal that the Pentagon misled Congress about their handing of sexual misconduct charges.