Bush's Open-Records Order a Sham

[babylonsister]

Bush's Open-Records Order a Sham

By Liliana Segura, AlterNet. Posted March 26, 2008.

A recent report shows that the Bush administration has failed to deliver on its promise to cut the FOIA backlog. This is no accident.


On Dec. 14, 2005, President Bush issued an executive order that, at first glance, seemed highly out of character. "The effective functioning of our constitutional democracy depends upon the participation in public life of a citizenry that is well informed," it began. "For nearly four decades, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has provided an important means through which the public can obtain information regarding the activities of federal agencies." The multipronged order went on to call for improving the system for the government's processing of FOIA requests. In addition to dealing with them "in an efficient and appropriate manner," federal agencies were to conduct themselves "courteously" and in a "citizen-centered" way.

Bush's rhetoric -- suspicious as it seemed -- was welcome. Signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966, the Freedom of Information Act is a singularly important tool for people -- particularly journalists -- to ensure government transparency. Yet, for years, the government's response to FOIA requests has been notoriously sluggish, with some FOIA requests taking as long as 10 years to process.

To speed things up and improve the FOIA system, Bush said a senior official of each agency would be designated to serve as the "chief FOIA officer," managing the implementation and conduct of all things FOIA-related. The executive order applied to some 90 government offices; it would be up to the attorney general to oversee the whole operation.

The role of the attorney general should have raised a serious red flag -- especially given the history of the Department of Justice under Bush. Weeks after Sept. 11, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft gutted a Freedom of Information order issued by Janet Reno in 1993 that stated the Department of Justice would "no longer defend an agency's withholding of information merely because there is a 'substantial legal basis' for doing so." Ashcroft's move placed "national security" above all else, setting the stage for years of gross civil liberties abuses.

Last week, the National Security Archive released an audit showing the results of Bush's 2005 initiative. The predictable conclusion: It's been a miserable failure. When it comes to reducing the number of unanswered FOIA requests, the Bush administration has barely made a dent. The amount went down a measly 2 percent over the past two years -- from 217,000 to 212,000.

News of the audit didn't make much of a splash -- and why should it? For a president who once reduced the U.S. Constitution to "a piece of paper," Bush's desire to improve FOIA was laughable from the start.

more...

http://www.alternet.org/rights/80548/?page=entire

[thunder rising]

1. Of course it is. This is the Bush Administration

[Solly Mack]

2. I can't help but laugh..and my laughter isn't directed at the author

this line just really caught my eye.

"Bush's rhetoric -- suspicious as it seemed -- was welcome."

See now, that's the problem with so many people...they hear feel-good words from politicians and cheer , when they should save their applause for positive action.

But to "welcome" anything Bush says as if better things were/might be coming, well, that's just beyond stupid.

The man lies and there is no percentage in pretending otherwise...not even to be polite about it.

as the author well knows: "Bush's desire to improve FOIA was laughable from the start."

That's because improving FOIA wasn't Bush's desire....but circumventing and eroding FOIA under the guise of improving it was...

but to their way of thinking...that is "improvement"

[Catch22Dem]

3. Who's this "Bush" person and what does he have to do with Obama v. Clinton?

Thanks for posting this. From one long-timer to another, this is where our focus belongs. DU has truly lost its way when candidate-bashing threads outnumber these kind of threads about 50-1.