An Obama secret: They're rejecting more Freedom of Information requests than those secretive Bush folks

Here's a not-so-tiny tidbit of data that's getting lost in the White House-driven public frenzy over healthcare legislation this week:

The White House Democratic administration of Barack Obama, who denounced his presidential predecessor George W. Bush as the most secretive in history, is now denying more Freedom of Information Act requests than the Republican did.

Transparency and openness were deemed so important to the new president that on his first full day in office last year he dispatched a memo to all federal agencies saying:

Transparency and openness were so important to the new president that on his first full day in office last year, he dispatched a much-publicized memo throughout the federal government saying:

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.

That was the same day he issued an executive order promising to shut the Guantanamo Bay detention facility by the end of calendar 2009, which hasn't happened yet either.

One of the exemptions allowed to deny Freedom of Information requests has been

...used by the Obama administration 70,779 times in its first year, while the same exemption was used 47,395 times in Bush's final budget year.

An Associated Press examination of 17 major agencies' handling of FOIA requests found denials 466,872 times, an increase of nearly 50% from the 2008 fiscal year under Bush. 

As the thorough Ed Morrissey points out over here, during a time of war and terrorist threats, any government can justify not releasing some sensitive information. And true, Obama's always been a legislator, not an executive.

But why despite advance warnings about the realities of governing make such a big campaign deal over a previous administration's secrecy (not to mention Guantanamo) when you're going to end up being even more secretive?

And invite inevitable charges of hypocrisy and even more empty campaign promises?

Today to mark annual Sunshine Week, designed to promote openness in government, Obama applauded himself by issuing a statement:

As Sunshine Week begins, I want to applaud everyone who has worked to increase transparency in government and recommit my administration to be the most open and transparent ever, an effort that will strengthen our democracy and ensure the public’s trust in their government.

However, a new study out Monday by George Washington University's National Security Archive finds less than one-third of the 90 federal agencies who process such FOIA requests have made significant changes in their procedures since Obama's 2009 memo.

So, today in response, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel did what federal government chiefs of staff do: He sent out yet another memo. Since the agencies ignored the memo from the real president of the United States, they'll probably all snap to when the Obama staffer's note arrives, don't you think?.

Related items:

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Joe Biden update: Another closed day

About that Obama transparency: Today it's more opacity

Joe Biden update: Iraq one of Obama's 'great achievements'

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photos: Associated Press

Comments

[Samantha]

Proportional numbers would really beef up this story. I mean... Is this saying that the Obama administration rejects 50 percent of FOIA requests? 80 percent? 2 percent? Compared to what rate of the Bush administration? Also, if greater than two-thirds of the agencies aren't complying, then a quarter (or so) agencies have changed there policies? Where is all this increased secrecy coming from?

[mbt shoes]

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[netzero]

Why is this not a surprise. Obama magic....hand waiving.

[Verytransparent]

Samantha asks, "where is all this secrecy coming from?" It comes from an attempt to not alarm people who love freedom. They don't want you to know what they're doing — fundamentally transforming America. But they're giving away their "secret" by keeping things secret! (Plus they have given away some very big clues … which only people who have lived in totalitarian type countries understand.) Come Saturday, if they pass this "health" bill and the President signs it, we will say goodbye to 'the land of the free.' We will have traded freedom and privacy for "security". They will know more about you than they do now. By their own admission health care insurance premiums will rise and taxes will go up too. How do you think they will pay for all this "coverage"? The government cannot possibly pay for everyone's medical needs and give all of us high quality care.

[Tankmansquare]

I got to thinking about what AIG, CITICORP, CHASE, Solomon Bros, Goldman Sachs etc, did, and from what I read, it amounts to criminal activity! The same thing Barney Madoff did, except more convoluted! Not only has Wall Street turned into a gambling casino, but the business and banks being represented on the NY Stock Exchange are CRIMINAL ENTERPRISES!

Giving someone "the business" has taken on a whole new meaning! We the People are not only taking it in the shorts, we have been subsidizing the rich! It's amazing that the greed and avarice of the average CEO of these organizations has no problem looking in the mirror to shave each morning, while children go hungry in this country, lack a decent education, and health care! Michael Moore's film "Capitalism-A Love Story" asks some very fundamental and basic questions about "Our Way of Life" (a term used during the Cold War, to protect our status quo in the world, and to ensure that none of what Marx or Engels wrote about ever got implemented in our "Democracy"). What we have, Al Capone loved!

The way the law works, is this: If you are a major corporation, bank, or drug company, you not only have the same rights as the average citizen, you actually have more. The laws are written so that you CANNOT grow a naturally occurring plant (such as Marijuana) for medicinal purposes. No, you will get thrown in jail because it competes with the legalized drug dealers who pump out their crap on our TV airways every 20 minutes. The laws are written so that if you are too big to fail you can do, and get away with, anything you want and never have to worry about facing the consequences of your actions! As a matter of fact, you will get bailed out by the very people you screwed!

Think about it! The government that is supposed to represent us actually represents the 1% of the population that makes as much money as the rest of us (95% of the population). THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN SUFFICIENT IN 1930 TO START A REVOLUTION IN THIS COUNTRY! Fortunately for these oligarchs, they also control the mainstream media which has been instrumental in placating and subduing an illiterate, dumbed-down, and brainwashed public (Rockefeller even thanked the media for keeping their plans for globalization and a one world government secret for so long).

DO YOU HAVE HEMORRHOIDS YET? If you don't it's a wonder considering how much of the shaft we have been getting! The draconian laws and the elimination of Habeas Corpus (Probable Cause, Due Process, Search and Seizure, arrest and indefinite confinement without charge or lawyer, suspension of the Constitution and Bill Of Rights, torture, and assassination) all in the name of the war on drugs and the war on terror, were implemented so that if the people ever rise up to protest this injustice, they will be crushed. This will be carried out by Blackwater, UAV's, SWAT, and paramilitary mercenary forces that act against Posse Commitatus (Done away with thanks to the Patriot Act), made up of hardened ex-military who have served back-to-back tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, are unemployed, and suffering from PTSD, and have been trained in house-to-house murder of unarmed civilian women and children.

So we are now a police state, capable of instituting martial law at any time (with the help of a little known government plan called "Continuity of Government").

THE FOURTH REICH IS ALIVE AND WELL HERE IN AMERICA!

[jose]

its dumb to think of the issue. since obama urged for more "transparancy" the number of FOI requests has increased. they have denied more because they have received a ton more than bush did. some citizens are either to dumb or nieve to realize some information is not related to them and does not need to be released. as well, some nuts out there would only read into released info and assume the worst. why bother proving to the masses that the u.s.'s plans are honorable if disclosure would only lead to idiots assuming the worst.

[Michael]

How many FOA requests are they recieving compared to Bush's last year? Are they rejecting less than Bush's second-to-last year?

I could write an article headlined "Obama People Accept more FOA Requests than Andrew Malcolm and Johanna Neuman." Would this pressure you into being more descriptive and contextual in your article? No, you'd just be worried about writing the next one.

A lot of people are disappointed in Obama's transparency policies, but trying to jump on the band wagon with vague claims doesn't help anyone.

[Mac]

You conveniently link to the FOX edited version of the AP article. The original article makes it plain that, "Agencies often cite more than one exemption when withholding part or all of the material sought in an open-records request."

Yes, it could mean that they are withholding more information. It could as easily mean that they are offering MORE information, but that since the material they are offering is sensitive, they are forced to redact more selectively to prevent sensitive intelligence data from being exposed.

[Rance Mohanitz]

How many FOIA requests are from the same idiot requesting a birth certificate for the 273rd time?

[Kevin Brown]

Republican propaganda is working :(

[mbt]

I really, really enjoyed this. The humor works brilliantly, and the animation is much better than I had imagined. The way you have “blended” (hehe) it all together makes this look like a solid, whole product, as good as any Pixar short. Probably better. But then again: That’s my opinion.