Did anyone catch this one?
The Bush Administration is considering
ways to speed FOIA responses, conceding that there is “suspicion” his administration is too security-conscious
and there have been complaints by news organizations that
that too much is withheld
under the Freedom of Information Act, possibly under the guise of national security.
continued below
President Bush was expected to sign an executive order later Wednesday to improve public disclosure under the federal Freedom of Information Act, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.
Specifically, this change would require every federal agency to
designate a senior official as the chief FOIA officer, who must take a close look at the agency’s FOIA programs and come up with a plan to improve them.
Why come up with a plan? Why not just release the information/documentation requested under the FOIA?
McClellan answers that by the following explanation of the plan, stating that the FOIA process is
“citizen-centered and goal oriented,”
McClellan further states that this executive order will
improve the disclosure of information to the general public”
It gets better! McClellan continues by saying
“The Freedom of Information Act has been an important way for people to obtain information about their government.”
Ironically,
it was unclear whether Bush’s order would reverse a 4-year-old directive from then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, issued shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, that restricted access to information.
And,
Ashcroft reversed a Clinton administration policy that urged federal agencies to resolve FOIA requests by erring on the side of releasing, not withholding, government information.
It appears that the reversal of the decision that was made by Ashcroft appears to loosed the requirements that were previously set by the former Attorney General. However, after a careful reading of this, is it possible that the Bush administration is further trying to restrict media access to information by merely establishing another procedural hoop for one to jump through?