tvashtarkatena Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 (edited) This memo's for real. It countermands the Gonzales Doctrine, which turned freedom of information and government transparency on it's head by requiring all agencies to deny Freedom of Information Act Requests unless required to comply specifically by statute. THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release January 21, 2009 January 21, 2009 MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES SUBJECT: Freedom of Information Act A democracy requires accountability, and accountability requires transparency. As Justice Louis Brandeis wrote, "sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants." In our democracy, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which encourages accountability through transparency, is the most prominent expression of a profound national commitment to ensuring an open Government. At the heart of that commitment is the idea that accountability is in the interest of the Government and the citizenry alike. The Freedom of Information Act should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails. The Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears. Nondisclosure should never be based on an effort to protect the personal interests of Government officials at the expense of those they are supposed to serve. In responding to requests under the FOIA, executive branch agencies (agencies) should act promptly and in a spirit of cooperation, recognizing that such agencies are servants of the public. All agencies should adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure, in order to renew their commitment to the principles embodied in FOIA, and to usher in a new era of open Government. The presumption of disclosure should be applied to all decisions involving FOIA. The presumption of disclosure also means that agencies should take affirmative steps to make information public. They should not wait for specific requests from the public. All agencies should use modern technology to inform citizens about what is known and done by their Government. Disclosure should be timely. I direct the Attorney General to issue new guidelines governing the FOIA to the heads of executive departments and agencies, reaffirming the commitment to accountability and transparency, and to publish such guidelines in the Federal Register. In doing so, the Attorney General should review FOIA reports produced by the agencies under Executive Order 13392 of December 14, 2005. I also direct the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to update guidance to the agencies to increase and improve information dissemination to the public, including through the use of new technologies, and to publish such guidance in the Federal Register. more (OVER) 2 This memorandum does not create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget is hereby authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register. BARACK OBAMA Edited February 4, 2009 by tvashtarkatena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STP Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Seems like a double bind for certain elements of the gov't to reconcile transparency with a need for secrecy. Even if there is more openness, certain information such as methodology must remain classified. See John Yoo's take (not that I agree with him): Obama Made a Rash Decision on Gitmo The reality is that things like extraordinary rendition and warrantless surveillance will continue. For instance, some of this will be outsourced and occur outside the reach of FOIA. Don't agree with me? What about Obama's about-face on FISA and immunity for telecoms? [video:youtube]sVPa46W3uMY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Terrorists win. Game over. I sure miss Dick Cheney. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvashtarkatena Posted February 4, 2009 Author Share Posted February 4, 2009 Seems like a double bind for certain elements of the gov't to reconcile transparency with a need for secrecy. Even if there is more openness, certain information such as methodology must remain classified. See John Yoo's take (not that I agree with him): Obama Made a Rash Decision on Gitmo The reality is that things like extraordinary rendition and warrantless surveillance will continue. For instance, some of this will be outsourced and occur outside the reach of FOIA. Don't agree with me? What about Obama's about-face on FISA and immunity for telecoms? [video:youtube]sVPa46W3uMY Um...Obama just ended Extraordinary Rendition by presidential order this past week. Guess you didn't get the memo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STP Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Must have been bad intelligence. Obama set to allow Bush-era ‘torture flights’ Ya, foreign media is suspect by its very nature. How about a domestic source? Obama preserves renditions as counter-terrorism tool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billcoe Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Regardless, I welcome the change in direction....slowly walking down the steps: step by slow inexorable step, to a bleak dark dungeon sucked. Sure, maybe all we've done is turn around on the stairwell, but the view is radically different because we are looking and heading into the light and to freedom, and is not still looking like the previous view of a descent into a hellasious Dante-esque nightmare anyway.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvashtarkatena Posted February 4, 2009 Author Share Posted February 4, 2009 (edited) Obama also prohibited the use of torture of any kind, again, by presidential order. Given that Rendition and torture are now both explicitly banned, it would seem a bit unlikely that torture flights are 'set to be allowed' (whatever that's supposed to mean...maybe some tabloid journalist has managed to implant an hidden agenda-monitoring device in Obama's brain). Unless you're a hard core Truther, of course. Edited February 4, 2009 by tvashtarkatena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLC Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Except that rendition has not been banned. In fact, Obama signed an executive order to specifically allow rendition. So, you are pretty much exactly wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billcoe Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Obama also prohibited the use of torture of any kind, again, by presidential order. Given that Rendition and torture are now both explicitly banned, it would seem a bit unlikely that torture flights are 'set to be allowed' (whatever that's supposed to mean...maybe some tabloid journalist has managed to implant an hidden agenda-monitoring device in Obama's brain). Unless you're a hard core Truther, of course. Except that rendition has not been banned. In fact, Obama signed an executive order to specifically allow rendition. So, you are pretty much exactly wrong. But it's sooooo difficult to click and read the links...like those on STPS earlier post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvashtarkatena Posted February 4, 2009 Author Share Posted February 4, 2009 (edited) Except that rendition has not been banned. In fact, Obama signed an executive order to specifically allow rendition. So, you are pretty much exactly wrong. Well, I can see that someone here is begging for a public ass kicking: Obama orders secret prisons closed (among other things) Since the whole point of Rendition is to send detainees to these secret prisons, which will now no longer exist, to be tortured, I think the program has been cancelled, no? But go ahead, find us a linky. And don't worry; I used to get my plus and minus signs mixed up on math tests all the time. Edited February 4, 2009 by tvashtarkatena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbw1966 Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 The whole point of rendition was/is to send suspects to places where they can be interrogated using techniques illegal in the US. Egypt is one such place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Obama reserves the right to perform renditions Apparently, they're going to be nicer about it, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_b Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 The credulity shown by some people is simply baffling: http://www.soaw.org/type.php?type=8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvashtarkatena Posted February 4, 2009 Author Share Posted February 4, 2009 (edited) Obama reserves the right to perform renditions Apparently, they're going to be nicer about it, though. The LA TImes has got it wrong. Obama has haulted the Extraordinary Rendition Program under Bush by revoking the executive orders which started it. He has issued an executive order to "Ensure Lawful Interrogations". To this end, the order establishes a task force: "(ii) to study and evaluate the practices of transferring individuals to other nations in order to ensure that such practices comply with the domestic laws, international obligations, and policies of the United States and do not result in the transfer of individuals to other nations to face torture or otherwise for the purpose, or with the effect, of undermining or circumventing the commitments or obligations of the United States to ensure the humane treatment of individuals in its custody or control." Extraordinary Rendition per Bush ignored international treaties regarding extradition procedures and torture. It was an intirely different program that has now ended. Obama's task force is, well, 'tasked' with establishing lawful procedures for transfering detainees across national borders, not kidnap them without regard to the rule of law and transfer them to countries to be tortured. As always, the devil is in the details...not some journalistic hack's misleading headline. Edited February 4, 2009 by tvashtarkatena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayB Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Smart political moves by Obama. It's important to understand the value of appearances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_b Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 http://hnn.us/articles/32497.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvashtarkatena Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 Smart political moves by Obama. It's important to understand the value of appearances. Cynical has lost its cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STP Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Trust but verify. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayB Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 What was once fodder for uncritical, categorical denunciation now requires elaborate exercises in ethical spectrophotometry, such are the many hues of grey associated with "rendition" these days. "Oh...well...there's rendition and then there's rendition..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STP Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 An online gov't glossary with the definition and meaning of words like 'torture', 'rendition', ...? My general impression is that hasn't been a sea change with respect to governance and projection of power, that the greater part of 'change' resides primarily in image and perception. As a side note, I'm curious to see how far Obama is willing to take the rhetoric as a catalyst for change on the economic issue. Amid anger, Obama seeks right tone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billcoe Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 http://hnn.us/articles/32497.html This is a great link JB, thank you. Please don't take this as criticism or another ad-hominum attack because I don't mean it to be, but in reading this one (which I'm not kidding, I think is very very good) it struck me that what you often link to support one of your rants is another rant form another person that is also equally unsupported. In this case, I had an old buddy who had lived with me back in the day who had been an officer in Vietnam in Army Intelligence. They were commonly doing psych-ops and very similar "Non-torture" things to captured Viet Cong (or anyone that got picked up in the dragnet) back then so I know for a fact that your linked story is spot on the truth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvashtarkatena Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 What was once fodder for uncritical, categorical denunciation now requires elaborate exercises in ethical spectrophotometry, such are the many hues of grey associated with "rendition" these days. "Oh...well...there's rendition and then there's rendition..." The difference is the rule of law or lack thereof. For some of us, that's a pretty big difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billcoe Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 This issue will present a quandary for the current administration: ie, if waterboarding is torture than do you prosecute the war criminals or not? Does the rule of law trump all? Do you prosecute Bush, Cheney and if so, how far down the line to you go? Do you round up the Staff Sergeant who was pouring water on a prisoner? This story from Wired outlines those choices with some examples quite capably: Link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_b Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 http://hnn.us/articles/32497.html This is a great link JB, thank you. Please don't take this as criticism or another ad-hominum attack because I don't mean it to be, but in reading this one (which I'm not kidding, I think is very very good) it struck me that what you often link to support one of your rants is another rant form another person that is also equally unsupported. ???? This is a journal article that resumes academic research published in a book. If you want notes supporting his research you'll have to read the book that you'll find on google books. here as far as the other article (by david Cay Johnston) I linked to in the other thread, again it is a journal article which resumes what he wrote in several books and you'll again find references and data in the original work. here as to the meat of your criticism,it is rare that anyone around here supports their diatribes with links to academic work, including yourself. So why should I be held to a higher standard than others? In this case, I had an old buddy who had lived with me back in the day who had been an officer in Vietnam in Army Intelligence. They were commonly doing psych-ops and very similar "Non-torture" things to captured Viet Cong (or anyone that got picked up in the dragnet) back then so I know for a fact that your linked story is spot on the truth. http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/6817 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaskadskyjKozak Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 What was once fodder for uncritical, categorical denunciation now requires elaborate exercises in ethical spectrophotometry, such are the many hues of grey associated with "rendition" these days. "Oh...well...there's rendition and then there's rendition..." It depends what the meaning of the word "is" is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.