Is it? If it is, it shouldn't be. If the matter concerns clear and present threats to national security, then why is a private firm involved at all? If there is no clear and present threat, then why bother with secrecy?
We need to take back the concept of the government serving the people, they are our employees, we pay taxes that go towards their salaries, last time I checked, my boss has the ability to read emails I send from a company email address.
You're wrong. You can foia request any communication between government employees and anyone if it was done in their official role or on government equipment. There are some exceptions of course, but generally speaking correspondence is anything but confidential (at least in the USA)
It's really hard to generalize about this in the US, each state has their own laws, FOIA isn't applicable to state and local governments:
http://www.nfoic.org/state-foi-laws
The allowable exemptions -- and penalties for non-compliance -- vary wildly from state to state.
Thanks for disabusing me of my misconception. However, I'm going to have to do more homework on this before I'm willing to concede that you're right.