ACLU: President Obama Issues Orders To Reduce Government Secrecy

[ProSense]

President Obama Issues Orders To Reduce Government Secrecy

December 30, 2009
Government Should Stop Suppressing Key Information, Says ACLU

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: [phone]; [e-mail]

NEW YORK – President Obama Tuesday night issued an executive order and an accompanying presidential memorandum directing executive agencies to make more information public when possible and eliminate unnecessary government secrecy.

The following can be attributed to Michael German, American Civil Liberties Union National Security Policy Counsel and former FBI Agent:

"We welcome President Obama's executive order and memorandum which have the potential to improve the classification system for government documents, and appreciate that the administration, in an unprecedented move, incorporated into its policies public input gained through an open meeting and weblog. Although some more comprehensive measures called for by the ACLU and others were not fully realized in the new order, it is encouraging that the president described the new order as just one step in a process toward establishing 'a more fundamental transformation of the security classification.' We look forward to continuing to work with the administration on this issue to ensure the government is properly protecting information where necessary, while ensuring public access to as much information as possible."

The following can be attributed to Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project:

"These documents rightly acknowledge that too much information is being kept secret, and that excessive secrecy compromises national security and undermines our democracy. We are particularly pleased that the president has eliminated a rule that gave the intelligence community the authority to veto declassification decisions made by an interagency panel.

"In a next step toward improving government transparency, we hope that the administration will now reconsider its refusal to release crucial documents relating to the Bush administration's national security policies. The CIA is still withholding documents about its rendition, detention and interrogation program. The Justice Department is still withholding the legal memos that supplied the basis for the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program. The Defense Department is still withholding the interrogation directives used by special forces in Afghanistan. The suppression of these documents deprives the American public of information it needs in order to evaluate the wisdom of government policy, to hold officials accountable for their decisions and to ensure that the mistakes and abuses of the past are not repeated in the future."

[Cha]

1. Thanks for the article, Pro Sense

"These documents rightly acknowledge that too much information is being kept secret, and that excessive secrecy compromises national security and undermines our democracy. We are particularly pleased that the president has eliminated a rule that gave the intelligence community the authority to veto declassification decisions made by an interagency panel."

[tblue]

2. Go on wit ya baaad self! That's Change we can believe in!

And thank God for the ACLU!

[jenmito]

3. K&R for all the "Obama=Bush" people who must've missed this thread.

:)

[cliffordu]

5. I was just going to do the same thing.

Funny how many crickets there are over this......


Kicketty

[davidpdx]

11. Goddammit this isn't change we can believe in

:sarcasm:

:wtf:

[jenmito]

4. kick

[TheWraith]

6. Kicked and recommended. nt

[TheKentuckian]

7. Its excellent news and should get more airplay

but taking on corporate power and the neocon agenda is where he can really score points with people that he can actually score points with.

In more reasonable times Obama would be seen by almost everyone as the shit but the rub is he's not much on the remaking the wheel stuff and unfortunately that is what the times call for. The stakeholders at the table shit is going to kill us one way or the other, either by the fracturing or the huge damage the stakeholders bring to every effort.

If he leads then the majority of people will have his back. FDR got the people on his side and then demanded they send him not only more people but more people to do it his way.

Some say FDR needed WWII to finally pull us out and that's true but it wouldn't have been if he hadn't finally relented to the idiot conservatives. All WWII did to pull us out of the hole is we spent shit tons of money and used about every person we could to do what needed doing. Spending all that money on infrastructure, R&D of all sorts, and say construction of homes for those without them at the time would have yielded similar results.

We need a war on our country being fucked to hell and I think Obama could be a great Commander in Chief in that effort but he has to accept it is fucked up and not just a little frayed on the edges.

Again, good job on restoring a little of America. It really does mean a lot. I'm all about encouraging and helping with the clean up. I just get alarmed when sometimes he looks like he went out and got another bucket or two of nasty looking stuff that says industrial cleanser but looks and smells like sewage.

[FrenchieCat]

8. He's only been at it for 11 months.

Give him a little time please.
It's the least that you can do,
since he's gonna be there one way of the other
for the next 3 years.

[vaberella]

9. But...but...but...Obama is Bush 3. This isn't supposed to be change I can believe in. n/t

[mmonk]

10. A good step though it doesn't erase the DOJ's actions so far.

Maybe this can be the first step back towards some assemblance to the rule of law and transparency.