CRS Director Cracking Down on Release of Reports

CRS is the Congressional Research Service (key word - Congressional). It’s a think-tank that works exclusively for members of Congress. They produce wonderful reports - non-partisan, thoroughly researched…just wonderful. Unfortunately, even though these reports are federally-funded, they are not very accessible to the general public - and CRS likes it that way. Sites like the Federation of American Scientists and OpenCRS help - they somehow obtain reports & post them on their sites for anyone to download. But currently, if you want to obtain a report, you might have to buy it from a company called Penny Hill Press.

Anyway, that’s the background. The latest news? A memo sent by Director Dan Mulhollan to his staff was posted by Secrecy News the other day. In it he states, “I have concluded that prior approval should now be required at the division or office level before products are distributed to members of the public,” (meaning everyone except a member of Congress or their staff).

From personal experience, I know that there are plenty of other government workers who find the CRS reports invaluable - not to mention students, researchers, and the general public. This new policy isn’t just about the suppression of information produced at taxpayer expense - it is an attack on the employees of the organization, and their ability to do an effective job.