A group dedicated to reducing government secrecy gave its annual worst performance award Tuesday to the Justice Department, the agency President Barack Obama ordered in 2009 to lead his drive to open more government records to the public.
The National Security Archive said the department has prosecuted whistleblowers as leakers of classified information, recycled legal views from the administration of George W. Bush arguing for greater secrecy and charged officials under the Espionage Act for speaking with journalists. The archive said the department also has increased its use of a specific, discretionary Freedom of Information Act exemption whose application Obama ordered federal officials to curtail so more documents would reach the public.
