The CDT runs its own project, called , which aims to make these reports public, and is working with the Wikileaks project to have the reports it obtained published on the CDT Web site in the next few days, said Ari Schwartz, the CDT's chief operating officer.

It is legal to make these reports public, but historically members of Congress and their staffers have done this at their discretion. Schwartz estimates that Open CRS was publishing between 80 and 90 percent of all reports being produced. The reports are also sold via data collection services such as

Schwartz agreed that the leak could force policy makers to take a second look at the way the CRS operates. "We hope that it pulls down the curtain a little bit and says there's no reason for this policy at this point," he said.

Technically part of the U.S. Library of Congress, the CRS has a staff of about 700. It did not return a call seeking comment for this story.