Obama orders creation of declassification center

[kpete]

Source: Washington Post

Obama orders creation of declassification center

By Michael D. Shear
President Obama created by executive order Tuesday a National Declassification Center to oversee efforts to make once-secret government documents public.

The order comes as part of Obama's promise to push government to err on the side of disclosure as it tackles the need to keep certain information from the public.

In a post on the White House blog, William H. Leary, the senior director of records and access management at the National Security Council, writes that the effort is aimed at shifting the burden of defending secrecy to the government.

"While the Government must be able to prevent the public disclosure of information that would compromise the national security, a democratic government accountable to the people must be as transparent as possible and must not withhold information for self-serving reasons or simply to avoid embarrassment," Leary wrote.



Read more: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/12/obama-orders-creation-of-decla.html?hpid=news-col-blog

[babylonsister]

1. Love this! Rec'd! nt

[valerief]

2. Let's start with the torture tapes and pics. The ones that might get America really angry

with Republicans.

[FrenchieCat]

6. America is already angry......

I think it's the rest of the world
that we may want to try to keep
chilled out.

I like flying in airplanes....
I don't think we need to recruit some more
incensed Jihadest just now.

[shadowknows69]

7. Not angry enough if we didn't do a citizens arrest on Bush/Cheney.

Or demand that our President upholds the rule of law and punish war criminals.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

42. But occupying Afghanistan isn't recruiting incensed Jihadest's

Okay got it.

[defendandprotect]

49. +1000%

[GoCubsGo]

54. So, you want to piss them off even more?

?

[Moochy]

76. Yes , Cover Ups are The Way To Go!

Best to just avoid an unquantifiable increase in anger and let the crimes go unpunished!!! USA USA!!! :patriot:

signed,
Fellow American Exceptionalism Fan Club.

[crikkett]

89. There's more to this than burkhas, gas pipelines and poppy fields...

...try nuclear weapons in a madman's hands. I think that's what we're over there to prevent and contain.

[freddie mertz]

48. Should have thought of that before torturing and killing those people.

Covering up a crime is also a crime.

[defendandprotect]

50. +1000%

[JonLP24]

68. Exactly

I did a search of Abu Gharib pictures they day there released in LBN and here it is-http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1815060

One thing I will add when the previous administration used that lame excuse of not to piss off "jihadists" or whatever no one here bought it.

[Raster]

66. That's the number one lame excuse for not exposing the torture truth to the light of day.

The two maxims for finding the truth: (1) follow the money; and (2) who are they trying to protect.

Don't look now, the but rest of the world already knows or has a damned good idea what we've been doing in our torture centers and rape rooms. It's the naive American public that doesn't understand the depth of our own depravity. Yes, if revealed, the photos *might* add a bit of anger to an already angry Muslim world, but their *real* affect would be to America, and having to confront our own evil.

[mbperrin]

78. Ummm... the rest of the world knows. Those are their loved ones' bodies

they've had to claim and bury.

The American taxpayer is the only one who doesn't know. I paid for those pictures; I paid for the torture. I want to see what I got, and who thought I would like it.

Then I can be angry at the right people for the right reasons. Right now, lizards like Cheney are free to walk to earth, because we have stuck our fingers in our ears, "La,la,la,la,la,la, I can't hear you......"

[Raster]

81. This is the post I want to recommend a hundred times today!

"...Right now, lizards like Cheney are free to walk {the} earth, because we have stuck our fingers in our ears, "La,la,la,la,la,la, I can't hear you......"

[liberation]

95. So basically you're all for silencing truth whenever it interferes with your comfort?

Is that the Change you were Hoping for? It explains a lot I guess...

[bvar22]

96. The Rest of the World already knows.

It IS the American People who are being kept in the dark and fed bullshit.

Cheney and Rumsfeld KNEW that the "policy" of torture wouldn't be a problem.
They KNEW if the low information voters ever saw the pictures of what was done in their name they would DEMAND accountability.
Obama knows that too,
and protecting the War Criminals would become much more difficult if the pictures got out.

In all, I applaud this small step in the right direction,
but am also Pragmatic and Reality Based enough to know that anything that might disrupt the Status Quo of the Money Parties will NEVER see the light of day.

[Raster]

100. No shit! The dollars must flow.

[niceypoo]

3. Very good news

About time

[asjr]

4. Let it begin!

[Jefferson23]

5. EXCELLENT!

[cutlassmama]

8. +1

[ProSense]

9. More

here

[blondeatlast]

10. A great reason to be proud of my vote for him. Excellent. nt

[Politicub]

11. Love it! n/t

[Gamey]

12. One of those "the devil's in the details"

Seriously? I can't be the only cynical one here? Always assume you are being lied to then work your way to the truth from there. If there is one thing the horrible Bush years taught me is never take anything at face value.

[Iowa]

16. Yep... Assume this is nothing but theater unless proven otherwise.

[pundaint]

31. Anything else, unfortunately for the Republic, would just be gullibility.

[Hekate]

40. You're totally sure about that? Why?

[Hekate]

39. Why?

[Iowa]

41. Anyone who isn't cynical after the last 9 years of bullshit hasn't been paying attention.

[Hekate]

38. Very interesting--another oldtimer dropping in to call Obama a liar. Why?

[whistler162]

46. Desperate need to return to the comfortable status of

Republicans in charge!

Don't 'cha know.

[Hekate]

99. Life is so easy when you don't have to actually think about whether the Administration is evil...

... or not. No energy need be wasted in cogitation when that part is already settled, as it was with Bush --all you have to do is react. It becomes habit.

It's intellectually lazy though to carry on as if, therefore, ALL future Admins and Presidents are evil, and react reflexively to everything the new one says and does.

Hekate

[DissedByBush]

62. I'll be pensive, but I'm willing to see what happens

This isn't just about the hot-button topics. Our government classifies far too much material and puts little effort into declassification even though rules for declassification have been in place a long time. This will be a boon for researchers and historians.

[icee]

63. I think you're thinking what I'm thinking but with a low post count

I'm afraid to say. Something to do with 1984...

[Hekate]

13. Kick and Rec. Another promise on the way to being kept.

:fistbump:

[Myrina]

75. yippie, that makes ... one?

:wtf:

[BumRushDaShow]

14. K&R

:kick:

[JDPriestly]

15. This is a positive development. We shall see.

[earcandle]

17. Good move forward.....

[Bolo Boffin]

18. K&R

Very good, sir.

[Vidar]

19. Goodfor him, as long as it isn't mere symbolism.

[JNelson6563]

20. Just like Bush!!!11

[Utopian Leftist]

21. Awesome!

This will drive conspiracy theorists, Republicans and other assorted insane types batshit crazy.

For the rest of us, it could potentially be a dream come true. I for one would be overjoyed if our government ever chose to explain its real motivation behind Wounded Knee and the persecution of Leonard Peltier who still rots in jail for 30 years now.

Yeah, I know, unlikely. Well, I'm a dreamer . . . .

[Proletariatprincess]

22. I"ll believe it when I see it.

And even then, I will wonder what was left out and why.
Believe nothing but consider all possibilities.

[Hekate]

37. What has Obama done that you --not a newbie but a low poster -- think he's lying about this?

Is this reflex from the Bush years and you can't tell the difference? I don't get it.

Hekate

[Bluenorthwest]

45. Obama sees my family as not worhty of equality

and he says that his religion, which he does not practice in other areas, is the reason for his prejudice. He parses words, spins, splits hairs, and all of those trick of verbiage are utterly forbidden by his 'faith'. But he does them. So that is one reason to not trust him, he thinks of some people are unequal to others, and he says that is his 'faith' but on other days he says he's a pragmatist. If you know what both words mean, you can see that his 'yes means yes' practice is a tad off in left field.
When a man will stand up with hate preachers who declare war on minorities they don't like, who spread slanders and lies about us, well, that indicates a very lose idea of truth and ethics and common decency that would lie about God and his neighbors both.
Is it reflex for you to accept hatred toward peoples you do not like? I don't get it. You accepted Donnie McClurkin. And yet you expect to be seen as honest and trusted?
Get real. Bigots are not trusted by those toward whom they are bigoted. Is this news to you? Really, is it news to you?
Grow up. This is real life.

[winyanstaz]

23. This would be good...I will be watching to see what comes of this...

This is a more positive step in the right direction.

[groundloop]

24. Good News

What will the GOPers be saying about this?

[BP2]

25. Good first step, but l want to see

the White House visitor logs for this and the last administration.

I think Dick Cheney's visitors would be quite telling.

[Tx4obama]

92. Here ya go...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4204268

[RedCloud]

26. Will we find out about government radiation experiments?

like on soldiers
and depleted uranium in Iraq

and a hunch here, somewhere in US desert as a cover story if gone awry, aliens did it!

[Tx4obama]

27. Bravo President Obama! K&R n/t

[Prana69]

28. Ahhh, another policy revision.....

Once we were aiming for "open and accountable government". Now we are trying to "err on the side of disclosure".

The back-peddle continues.

Is there any policy position left that is consistent with the pre-election commitment, or have they all been watered down by this administration and it's talking heads?

P69

[Hekate]

36. You're in Australia -- what's it to you? You just like to drop in to call our Prez a liar?

:wtf:

[marshall]

29. Maybe now we'll find out what they know about who killed Kennedy!

It's about time.

[disndat]

59. And 9/11 was an inside job.

[jgraz]

30. Happy to rec this. Let's hope it's for real.

See hangout, limited.

[alp227]

32. I hope he also changes his mind about those torture photos

The new administration has been soft on torture like the previous one. As the vice president said at the Democratic National Convention: "That's not change, it's more of the same!"

Nevertheless, K&R.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

33. Excellent! K&R

[guitar man]

34. Good

Now let's start with those missing WH emails they found a little while back.

[Hekate]

35. Wow. Five posters who couldn't wait to call the Prez a liar for fulfilling another campaign promise

I have to wonder what is wrong with some people...

Hekate

[pundaint]

71. Wow your offense at this is Palinesque. "We'll see" is not the same as "you lie"

Did the president promise open Health Care negotiations?
Did the president say he was releasing the torture photos?

[MadMaddie]

80. Hekate

Don't waste your time on them, even if President Obama declassified everything (which of course will not happen) they would complain that he declassified too much and he should be prosecuted for treason. See there is no winning with them they want him to fail.

[Hekate]

91. That's for sure...

... and it is really, really sick.

I mislaid my political pom-poms about 40 years ago, but this blind hatred of a Democrat is mind-boggling.

I suffered intensely through Bush, as he and his cabal violated everything I hold dear about my country. I did whatever I could to oppose and work against what his administration was doing, and I mean I got up from behind my keyboard and out into the community. "Hatred" about describes what I felt for Bushco.

I cannot fathom how anyone in their right mind could think that Obama is anything like Bush.

Some of our oldtimers display deeply hurt feelings over perceived slights to the LGBT community, and I understand that -- except it still doesn't make everything Obama does or says a lie.

Some of our oldtimers appear to be bitter-enders who never did like Obama for not being Kucinich or Hillary or Nader or whoever else it was that struck their fancy years ago -- and all I can say to that is "get over it." This is politics, and only one person gets elected at a time for each office. That makes everyone else the loser, if you must look at it that way. Better luck next time, and stop calling Obama a liar for being exactly who he said he was all along.

At this point, though, I seriously wonder if some of the new posters who have flooded the site in recent months are being paid to disrupt by spreading both RW talking points and by saying things that are so absurd (as well as venomous) that they make DU look like the Democratic version of FR. THIS really must be dealt with.

Thanks MadMaddie. The rest of you: flame away.

Hekate

[MadMaddie]

102. I believe the many of the new posters are paid disruptor's

I also believe that much of the hatred we see is not really about President Obamas actions it gets to the Root(s) of America it's about his skin color. Yes, there is a tinge of hatred for left ideology but this is much more deeper and visceral...this is pure hatred.

I don't believe he walks on water and all of his decisions have not been to my liking but overall he is moving the country forward.

[bread_and_roses]

43. a positive step, now release the torture photos

and prove it means something and is not just more mellifluous rhetoric.

[Sanity Claws]

44. Subtle way of getting all the lies out there

Instead of holding hearings or appointing a special prosecutor, Obama releases the materials and lets the scholars and journalists investigate the crimes.
Interesting. Subtle. Ingenious.

[disndat]

60. Agree absolutely.

[freddie mertz]

47. What about the torture (and domestic spying) documents?

We have war criminals at large right now.

Declassifying old documents is great for historians (I am one, actually).

But we have pressing concerns right now about recent and current crimes carried out in our name.

[Odin2005]

51. Good.

[defendandprotect]

52. Sounds good -- let's see what happens . . . !!

but the Obama's personal stand against releasing the torture docuemnts doesn't

bode well for this one, either --

[laughingliberal]

53. Good. I want the notes from the meetings with PhRMA and AHIP. nt

[inna]

79. +1

[ProSense]

55. "To date, the Obama White House has produced thousands of pages of documents..."

CREW AND OBAMA ADMINISTRATION SETTLE LAWSUIT OVER MISSING BUSH WHITE HOUSE EMAILS:

14 Dec 2009 // Washington, D.C. - Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the National Security Archive (NSA) reached a final settlement of their long-running lawsuits challenging the failure of the Bush White House and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to take any action after confronted with evidence that millions of emails had gone missing from Bush White House servers over a two and one-half year period. The lawsuits followed CREW’s revelation in April 2008 that the White House had discovered the problem in the fall of 2005. Nevertheless, the Bush White House failed to recover or restore the missing emails and knowingly continued to use a broken system for preserving electronic records.

Under the terms of the settlement, the Executive Office of the President (EOP) will restore a total of 94 days of missing emails, which will then be sent to NARA for preservation and eventual access under either the Presidential Records Act or the Federal Records Act. The dates for restoration were chosen based on email volume and external events because there simply was not enough money to restore all the missing emails. In addition, the EOP will continue to provide CREW and the NSA with records documenting the missing email problem, the response of the Bush White House to that problem, and the options the Bush White House considered for preserving electronic records, but inexplicably rejected.

To date, the Obama White House has produced thousands of pages of documents relating to these issues, all of which CREW has posted on www.governmentdocs.org . Finally, the EOP will be providing a publicly releasable description of the system it now uses to manage and preserve electronic records, including its email archiving and backup systems. CREW and the NSA will then dismiss their lawsuits.

Documents produced so far show the Bush White House was lying when officials claimed no emails were ever missing. The record now proves incontrovertibly that Bush administration officials deliberately ignored the problem and, in fact, knowingly allowed it to worsen. Some questions remain unanswered. Why, after the Office of Administration told then-White House Counsel Harriet Miers about the problem and presented her with a plan to restore the emails, did she do nothing? Why did the White House abandon -- at the last minute -- a system it had developed to manage and preserve electronic records, despite having spent millions to create it? Did the Bush White House properly respond to requests for records from the Department of Justice and Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald during the investigation into the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson’s covert CIA identity?

Melanie Sloan, CREW’s Executive Director, said, “We may never know exactly what happened to all the missing emails, and which Bush administration officials were involved in the coverup, but we do know the American public never got the full story.” After the Obama administration produces all the promised records, CREW will release a report, providing as much detail as possible. Sloan continued, “The Obama administration, which inherited the lawsuits and the dysfunctional White House email system, has done a terrific job straightening out the mess. Thanks to the Obama White House, a critical part of our nation’s missing history will be restored. This is yet another example of the administration living up to its promise of accountability and transparency.”

[ProSense]

56. ACLU obtains more torture documents

here

[GreenStormCloud]

57. The is stuff from World War ONE that is still classified.

It is still classified because no one has ever bothered to declassify it, not because it is still sensitive.

[HughMoran]

58. K & R - more good stuff from the Obama administration

Sure is good to be seeing positive news about openness versus the negative we saw for 8 years.

[disndat]

61. Good. A defensive move.

Obama must feel like a sieve with all the potshots he's getting. He may be moving defensively to save the 2010 midterm elections.

[Jello Biafra]

64. Maybe we will finally get some disclosure of...

the existence of extraterrestrials........

[Desertrose]

65. Actually.....

that thought crossed my mind, too.

[That Is Quite Enough]

88. That would certainly turn the volume down on every other present issue

Sometimes I wonder if the whole 'alien disclosure' thing is a card of last resort...something to be played when all of humanity is getting the boots put to it, hardcore style, and the governments need a deus ex.

It has the potential to either a) unite humanity in a way never before seen or b) cause even more widespread chaos

Though after old warnings from Wernher von Braun and all of the Reagan-esque Project Bluebeam fringe theories, the idea of 'disclosure' could be a bad thing afterall. Depends on the legitimacy of it, I guess.

This rambling really has hardly anything to do with this news story and Obama's current declassifications. Sorry. :P

[noamnety]

67. How is this different from the existing declassification agencies?

They already exist - I've got a friend who worked at one for a number of years declassifying info from old nuclear tests.

[Moochy]

70. More Announcement-worthy

There will be a visitors center with a giant FOIA (Freedom Of Information Act) request box in which you can stuff your requests in person. Oh and there will be a Gift Shop as well that will sell NSA & CIA Hats and Tshirts.

[scentopine]

72. Maybe they'll turn torture photos into a nice coffee table book -nt

[Moochy]

73. And if you listen closely

you'll hear the shredders humming quietly in the basement, processing all the of the requests.

[noamnety]

90. lol

I'm not quite that cynical, but I do believe people have confused "adding an extra layer of oversight/bureaucracy" with "will be declassifying more information."

The extra layer might be a good thing, might be a bad thing (depending on whether you believe a lack of oversight was a problem, vs. views on expanding government). But it is not what I think some people think it is.

[JonLP24]

69. K&R

[Deep13]

74. A big step in the right direction.

While I agree with this completely, I wish it could be written into statute law so that the next POTUS will not be free to rescind it.

[katty]

77. well, it's certainly a step in the right direction

[Lydia Leftcoast]

82. That's more like it

Actually undoing one of the evils of past adminstrations.

See, that wasn't so bad, was it?

[Overseas]

83. K&R. Glad to hear it. //nt

[Goldstein1984]

84. Good news because...

Nation security also depends on an informed citizenry that knows what its government is doing.

[Hekate]

93. Big difference from Bushco, I would say. nt

[Goldstein1984]

94. Yes, and

I hope to see much more.

[harun]

85. How about we make all lobbiest politician/staff communication public.

[That Is Quite Enough]

86. Another good move by Obama.

[ProSense]

87. More

White House Releases Name Of Every Visitor For First Time Ever

[davidwparker]

97. A "sunshine policy" is always a good thing. Rats and other vermin have to

scatter back into the darkness.

[bvar22]

98. One small step in the right direction....

I applaud.
:applause:

[HBravo]

101. This is a good thing

My only question is would these be time relevant or things that you can get with the Freedom of Information Act?