In a letter to National Security Subcommittee Chairman Shays, Rep. Waxman details how proliferating information designations such as "sensitive but unclassified" have been used by the Administration to block the release of important government records. Rep. Waxman cites examples where the Administration appears to have invoked the designations to cover up potentially embarrassing facts, rather than to protect legitimate security interests. The examples include the following:

• The State Department withheld unclassified conclusions by the agency’s Inspector General that the CIA was involved in preparing a grossly inaccurate global terrorism report;
  
  
• The State Department concealed unclassified information about the role of John Bolton, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control, in the creation of a fact sheet that falsely claimed that Iraq sought uranium from Niger;
  
  
• The Department of Homeland Security concealed the unclassified identity and contact information of a newly appointed TSA ombudsman whose responsibility it was to interact daily with members of the public regarding airport security measures;
  
  
• Over the objections of chief U.S. weapons inspector Charles A. Duelfer, the CIA Mr. Duelfer to conceal the unclassified names of U.S. companies that conducted business with Saddam Hussein under the Oil for Food program; and
  
  
• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission sought to prevent a nongovernmental watchdog group from making public criticisms of its nuclear power plant security efforts based on unclassified sources.

Rep. Waxman requests that the Subcommittee conduct a systematic analysis of information that the Administration has withheld from the American public through the use of these unclassified designations.