Obama Believes in Transparent Government

Washington Examiner:

Obama’s Justice Department has proposed a regulatory change that would weaken the Freedom of Information Act. Under the new rules, the government could falsely respond to those who file FOIA requests that a document does not exist if it pertains to an ongoing criminal investigation, concerns a terrorist organization, or a counterintelligence operation involving a foreign nation.

Los Angeles Times:

The president who committed himself to “an unprecedented level of openness in government” has followed the example of his predecessor by invoking the “state secrets” privilege to derail litigation about government misdeeds in the war on terror. He has refused to release the administration’s secret interpretation of the Patriot Act, which two senators have described as alarming. He has blocked the dissemination of photographs documenting the abuse of prisoners by U.S. service members. And now his Justice Department has proposed to allow government agencies to lie about the existence of documents being sought under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.

…This policy is outrageous. It provides a license for the government to lie to its own people and makes a mockery of FOIA. It also would mislead citizens who might file an appeal if they knew there was a possibility that the document they sought was in the possession of a government agency. Such an appeal would allow a court to determine whether the requested document was covered by an exemption in FOIA.

6 thoughts on “Obama Believes in Transparent Government”

  1. And to think that Halloween was supposed to be about fictional horrors. Why bother pretending when we have the US government giving us the real thing every single day?

  2. hide photos of the truth, hide and inprison whistleblowers,hide behind 'national security and pardon war criminals and crime breakers by 'looking forward not behind' while the feds raid state legal pot farms and my favorite was when the cia burned and destroyed tapes of their crimes the same day they were suppposed to turn them in by court order….obama pardoned them……

    1. So when will the Democratic party call for his head? Ooops! That's because it, like the Republicans, is one of two sides of the same corrupt coin. They are rats and liars incarnate and the only true threat that we Americans need to face. To hell with whats going on the other side of the globe… those swine created our problems and they need to hang high to atone for them.

  3. Yeah, well, best get used to it and get used to fighting it, 'cause FOIA changes or not, it ain't gonna get any better in the foreseeable future.

  4. "The only people who don't want to disclose the truth are people with something to hide."

    – Barack Hussein Obama (August 21, 2010)

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