ADMINISTRATION -- WATCHDOG GROUPS WARN THAT GOVERNMENT SECRECY IS ON THE RISE UNDER BUSH: According to a new report from OpenTheGovernment.org, "government secrecy is on the rise by almost every measure," the AP reports today. The report cites 14 different measurements to quantify government secrecy, "including patents hidden from the public, secret court approvals for surveillance in sensitive terrorism and espionage investigations and the expanding use of informal labels to keep documents from being disclosed." The group said the United States is now classifying more records as top secret or confidential, employing fewer workers who make federal documents publicly available. There was also an 80 percent decline over the last decade in the number of pages of records declassified, dropping last year to 37 million pages. The report also notes that federal surveillance activity under the secretive FISA court has risen for the ninth consecutive year, more than double the amount in 2000. The White House's penchant for secrecy is well-documented. In January, Sens. Pat Leahy (D-VT) and John Cornyn (R-TX) ), for example, said the White House had tried to "effectively eliminate" the FOIA office. In the 109th Congress, the Justice Department "squelched efforts" to pass the OPEN Government Act.