Bush View of Secrecy Is Stirring Frustration: Disclosure Battle Unites Conservatives, Liberals
“Kessler’s order, they say, reflects a growing frustration with the information control tactics used by the Bush administration. They say it is a gathering trend, fed by, but not rooted in, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
They point to a memo issued in October by Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, which they say is an indication of the administration’s drive to restrict access to information. The memo � in the works long before the terrorist attacks � assures agencies that “when you carefully consider FOIA requests and decide to withhold records . . . you can be assured that the Department of Justice will defend your decisions.”
They also cite President Bush’s executive order in November limiting the disclosure of past presidents’ records. And Cheney’s refusal last spring to release energy task force records prompted at least a dozen FOIA requests, including 10 from Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group that sued both the task force and the individual agencies for the data. In response, a federal judge in one case said last week that he would order the nine federal agencies making up the task force to release their records on the task force meetings.”