The ongoing battle over alleged small business contract fraud in the federal government has taken an Orwellian twist, according to one small business advocate.

Lloyd Chapman, president of the American Small Business League, claims that the government has hastily removed information from Defense Department files that reveal the revenues and number of employees of government contractors.

The move, he said, was prompted after the government learned that his group was compiling information for an investigative report by a television network. Chapman says his group will request the data under the federal Freedom of Information Act or sue for it in court.

It would be the group's fourth lawsuit — all of them successful — in its campaign to uncover the unlawful awarding of small business contracts to major corporations.