Mix and Match, the Letters Still Mean "No"

· Story link

There are at least three-score federal government acronyms in use with a common translation. Even if you can’t remember the words behind the letters, the meaning is the same — secret. FOUO, SSI, CII and on and on all are designations that the government’s own experts testified form a now “pseudo classification” system that is being used to withhold release of unclassified information. “It’s something that has gotten a little crazy in the era of 9/11,” said one official, noting that one agency had marked its phone directory, “For Official Use Only.” (3/3/05)