Noting that the U.S. Social Security Administration [3] "has been promoting the idea that Social Security is facing a crisis [4]," and SSA has paid Fleishman-Hillard [5] "nearly $1.8 million since September 2003," the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is wondering "what role, if any" the PR firm "has played in manufacturing that crisis." CREW filed a Freedom of Information Act [6] request with SSA asking for information on their PR contracts. When SSA failed to respond within 20 days, as required by law, CREW filed a lawsuit. "This Administration [7] has a demonstrated pattern of misrepresenting important information to the public," said CREW's executive director.