The White House is refusing Freedom of Information Act requests for documents regarding the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, on national-security grounds:
“Please be advised the documents you seek are being withheld in full,” wrote Carmen Suro-Bredie, chief FOIA officer in the White House’s Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
The national security claim is stunning, given that the treaty negotiations have included the 27 member states of the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Switzerland and New Zealand, all of whom presumably have access to the “classified” information.
(Via BoingBoing, via Instapundit.)
How can international treaty negotiations be classified? I’d really like to hear this one justified.
Anyway, so much for President Obama’s ballyhooed commitment to the Freedom of Information Act.
Internet Scofflaw 