Chief U.S. District Judge Norman Mordue ruled in September that the names, salaries and work locations of more than 900,000 federal employees can be withheld by the government from the public.

The sudden decision upset representatives of Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), which has relied on the Freedom of Information Act since 1989 to obtain information about federal government employees.

‘We provide the American people information about what their government is actually doing so they can judge whether they feel that’s appropriate,’ said David Burnham, co-director of the agency.

TRAC traditionally receives information on government civilian employees, analyzes the data and posts its findings online. TRAC then provides a data subscription service to libraries, public interest groups and media outlets.

Mordue ruled in favor of the Office of Personnel Management, an independent executive branch agency and predominant advising agency to the White House on federal human resource issues.

‘We protect the principles of the merit system, administer a number of benefit programs and perform 90 percent of all federal background investigations,’ said OPM spokesman Michael Orenstein.

In the years following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, OPM grew more selective on which information it would release publicly. In 2004, OPM did not grant 40 percent of the information that TRAC requested.

The release of this information could compromise government civilian employees’ privacy or the country’s security, Mordue said.

‘The right to know is a really important one in a democracy, because that’s the only way that one can hold ones government accountable and know what’s going on,’ said co-director of TRAC Sue Long.

The data is important to track the government deployment of border patrol agents after Sept. 11 or the number of employees the government sent down in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Long said.

The importance of the data was exemplified when TRAC found that the Internal Revenue Service was auditing poor people at a higher rate than rich people, Burnham said.

‘I’ll assure you that the head of the IRS did not announce that they were auditing poor people at a higher rate than rich people. There was no press release and no statement. We put that story on the Web because we examined the data,’ Burnham said.

In 2004, the IRS started withholding statistical information which had previously been granted by law to TRAC. ‘They are violating the law by withholding it,’ Burnham said.

According to OPM’s Data Release Policy, ‘Employees of agencies working in sensitive occupations, identities, duty stations and organizational components will be redacted.’

All FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Mint and Secret Service employees, regardless of position, are now protected from having their identities revealed. Clerks and secretaries are also included.

Long doesn’t understand why employees in the National Park Service or Veterans Benefits need a significant level of protection.

‘When you’re having this face-to-face interaction with people, why would you withhold this kind of information?’ Long said.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, Long claims there have been narrow exceptions in the past where data has been withheld.

‘This blanket idea of because you work for the federal government, your data is withheld, is all very new,’ Long said.

‘The Bush administration has shown, putting terrorism aside, that they are quite hostile to providing the public information that the public should be able to get,’ Burnham said.

The case will still be open until the government supplies Mordue more information. OPM spokesman Orenstein declined to comment on the ruling.

‘With the final decision, we were very disappointed,’ Burnham said. ‘We want to wait until the case is all over to decide whether or not to appeal, but it’s certainly under consideration.’

Published on October 21, 2007 at 12:00 pm