One hand giveth out, the other keepeth secret. That's the mixed-use practice of Congress when it comes to deciding what's classified.

My colleague Tim Starks uncovers a pile of nuggets about congressional secrecy in his not-to-be-missed CQ Weekly cover story, now available online.

"Naturally, the Intelligence committees and their ilk that handle classified information need an outlet to do so behind closed doors," Starks points out.

But the Senate Armed Services Committee considers the annual Defense authorization bill in private, while the House Armed Services Committee doesn't. So, clearly, the Senate panel could open its markup sessions if it wanted to -- the House panel does, after all.
 
Meanwhile, the Senate Intelligence Committee marks up all its legislation in secret, but the House Intelligence Committee does so in a session labeled "open/closed."

Ostensibly, that means the session is open to the public until such point lawmakers need to kick everyone out and discuss classified matters, Starks reports.

But in reality, none of it is done in the open because the bills are taken up in a committee room that the public is not allowed to enter. And committee Democrats, who complained about Republicans marking up bills in secret, haven't followed through on their pledge to make transcripts of the so-called "open" portions of their business meetings available.
 
And the bill that actually funds the Pentagon and most of the intelligence community?

That measure, the annual Defense spending bill, is marked up completely in the open in the Senate. In the House, the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense handles it behind closed doors, but when it gets to the full committee, anyone can watch.

 
And that's just a hint of what's going on, Starks writes.
 
"For all its apparent openness, its televised debates and public hearings, Congress is more secretive than its reputation suggests," he says.