Treasury Dept. Hires Firm To Keep Records Secret
Last Updated: Tue, 10/26/2010 - 12:33pm


While the U.S. government doles out trillions of taxpayer dollars for bank bailouts and economic stimulus, the administration that promised unprecedented transparency has hired a private company to keep information about the exorbitant handouts secret.

The U.S. Treasury Department has enlisted a consulting firm to screen public records requested through the federal law known as the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), according to a San Francisco newspaper that names the Obama-connected New Jersey business. Analysts who will handle Treasury FOIA requests will have experience in the use of “exemptions to withhold information from release to the public.â€