Secrecy In The Bush Administration

Open and accountable government is one of the bedrock principles of our democracy. Yet, virtually since inauguration day, questions have been raised about the Bush Administration's commitment to this principle. News articles and reports by independent groups over the last four years have identified a growing series of instances where the Administration has sought to operate without public or congressional scrutiny. At the request of Rep. Henry A Waxman, this report is a comprehensive examination of secrecy in the Bush Administration. It analyses how the Administration has implemented each of our nation's major open government laws. The report finds that there has been a consistent pattern in the Administration's actions: laws that are designed to promote public access to information have been undermined, while laws that authorise the government to withhold information or to operate in secret have repeatedly been expanded. The cumulative result is an unprecedented assault on the principle of open government.

Open and accountable government is one of the bedrock principles of our democracy. Yet virtually since inauguration day, questions have been raised about the Bush Administration's commitment to this principle. News articles and reports by independent groups over the last four years have identified a growing series of instances where the Administration has sought to operate without public or congressional scrutiny. At the request of Rep. Henry A. Waxman, this report is a comprehensive examination of secrecy in the Bush Administration. It analyzes how the Administration has implemented each of our nation's major open government laws. The report finds that there has been a consistent pattern in the Administration's actions: laws that are designed to promote public access to information have been undermined, while laws that authorize the government to withhold information or to operate in secret have repeatedly been expanded. The cumulative result is an unprecedented assault on the principle of open government. The Administration has supported amendments to open government laws to create new categories of protected information that can be withheld from the public. President Bush has issued an executive order sharply restricting the public release of the papers of past presidents. The Administration has expanded the authority to classify documents and dramatically increased the number of documents classified. It has used the USA Patriot Act and novel legal theories to justify secret investigations, detentions, and trials. And the Administration has engaged in litigation to contest Congress' right to information. The records at issue have covered a vast array of topics, ranging from simple census data and routine agency correspondence to presidential and vice presidential records. Among the documents that the Administration has refused to release to the public and members of Congress are (1) the contacts between energy companies and the Vice President's energy task force, (2) the communications between the Defense Department and the Vice President's office regarding contracts awarded to Halliburton, (3) documents describing the prison abuses at Abu Ghraib, (4) memoranda revealing what the White House knew about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and (5) the cost estimates of the Medicare prescription drug legislation withheld from Congress. There are three main categories of federal open government laws: (1) laws that provide public access to federal records; (2) laws that allow the government to restrict public access to federal information; and (3) laws that provide for congressional access to federal records. In each area, the Bush Administration has acted to restrict the amount of government information that is available.

"Open and accountable government is one of the bedrock principles of our democracy. Yet virtually since Inauguration Day, questions have been raised about the Bush Administration's commitment to this principle. News articles and reports by independent groups over the last four years have identified a growing series of instances where the Administration has sought to operate without public or congressional scrutiny.[t]he Bush Administration has acted to restrict the amount of government information that is available."- Executive Summary, Secrecy in the Bush AdministrationProduced at the request of Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), this report is a comprehensive examination of secrecy in the Bush Administration. It analyzes how the Administration has implemented our nation's major open government laws - yet have worked consistently to undermine them.The information contained in ON RESTORING OPEN GOVERNMENT: Secrecy in the Bush Administration covers a wide assortment of topics from restricting the public release of the papers of past presidents to expansion of the authority to classify documents to the dramatic increase in the number of documents classified.Among the documents the Bush Administration have classified and refused to release to the public and members of Congress include: .Contact between energy companies and Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force.Communications between the Defense Department and the Vice President's office about contracts awarded to Halliburton.Documents describing the prison abuses at Abu Ghraib and the military's related actions.Information regarding what The White House knew about Iraq's weapons of mass destructionIncluded is a section relating to Restoring Open Government (H.R. Bill 5073) proposed in September 2004 by Rep. Henry A. Waxman and referred to The Committee on Government Reform.

Tracing investigative leads back through three decades, Secrecy & Privilege explores the mystery of how the two George Bushes rose to the pinnacle of American political power -- and what the rise of their dynasty has meant to the nation's democratic principles. [book cover].

With relentless media coverage, breathtaking events, and extraordinary congressional and independent investigations, it is hard to believe that we might not know some of the most significant facts about the presidency of George W. Bush. Yet beneath the surface events of the Bush presidency lies a secret history -- a series of hidden events that makes a mockery of many of the stories on the surface. This hidden history involves domestic spying, abuses of power, and outrageous operations. It includes a CIA that became caught in a political crossfire it could not withstand, even against the wishes of the commander-in-chief. It features a president who created a sphere of deniability, in which his top aides were briefed on matters of the utmost sensitivity -- but the president was carefully kept in ignorance. STATE OF WAR reveals this hidden history for the first time, including scandals that will redefine the Bush presidency.

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