Wikileaks has helpfully just made available 6,780 semi-secret reports - representing the total output of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) over the past ten years. The CRS is Congress's analytical agency, the sober part of its brain if you like, and has a budget of over $100m a year - leading Wikileaks to claim it's offering a billion dollars' worth of free downloads. Nearly 2,300 of the reports were updated within the last 12 months.
The release of the documents comes, reluctantly it seems, after years of pressure on Congress, and on the CRS itself, from supporters of open government, including the Federation of American Scientists. As the Wikileaks editorial points out,
Free from meaningful public oversight of its work, the CRS, as "Congress's brain", is able to influence Congressional outcomes, even when its reports contain errors. Arguably, its institutional power over congress is second only to the parties themselves. Public oversight would reduce its ability to exercise that influence without criticism. That is why it opposes such oversight, and that is why such oversight must be established immediately.
A list of reports available can be seenHERE
The release of the documents comes, reluctantly it seems, after years of pressure on Congress, and on the CRS itself, from supporters of open government, including the Federation of American Scientists. As the Wikileaks editorial points out,
Free from meaningful public oversight of its work, the CRS, as "Congress's brain", is able to influence Congressional outcomes, even when its reports contain errors. Arguably, its institutional power over congress is second only to the parties themselves. Public oversight would reduce its ability to exercise that influence without criticism. That is why it opposes such oversight, and that is why such oversight must be established immediately.
A list of reports available can be seenHERE
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