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[infowar.de] Ashcroft will Freedom of Information Act aushebeln
Infowar.de, http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bendrath/liste.html
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Webseiten, die gesperrt werden; Fernsehsender, die nicht mehr senden
können, was sie wollen (merke: der Sohn des Aussenministers ist Chef der
FCC, die die Sendefrequenzen vergibt); Abgeordnete, die nicht mehr
informiert werden - und jetzt dies. Langsam wird es unheimlich. Mal
sehen, wie lange sich der Kongress das gefallen lässt. RB
-------- Original Message --------
Betreff: FC: Ashcroft instructs federal agencies to resist FOIA requests
Datum: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 13:43:05 -0700
Von: Declan McCullagh <declan -!
- well -
com>
Rückantwort: declan -!
- well -
com
An: politech -!
- politechbot -
com
*********
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 11:12:39 -0700
To: farber -!
- cis -
upenn -
edu (Dave Farber), Declan McCullagh
<declan -!
- well -
com>,
freematt -!
- coil -
com (Matthew Gaylor)
From: Jim Warren <jwarren -!
- well -
com>
Subject: Ashcroft tell agencies to resist Freedom-of-Information
requests
SECRECY NEWS
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
October 17, 2001
** ASHCROFT TELLS AGENCIES TO RESIST FOIA RELEASES
** FRUS VOLUME ON GREECE DUE IN DECEMBER
** OCTOBER 17 COMES AND GOES
ASHCROFT TELLS AGENCIES TO RESIST FOIA RELEASES
Attorney General John Ashcroft has issued a new statement of policy
that encourages federal agencies to resist Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) requests whenever they have legal grounds to do so.
The new statement supersedes a 1993 memorandum from Attorney General
Janet Reno which promoted disclosure of government information
through the FOIA unless it was "reasonably foreseeable that
disclosure would be harmful."
The Ashcroft policy rejects this "foreseeable harm" standard.
Instead, the Justice Department instructs agencies to withhold
information whenever there is a "sound legal basis" for doing so.
"When you carefully consider FOIA requests and decide to withhold
records, in whole or in part," the Attorney General advised, "you can
be assured that the Department of Justice will defend your decisions
unless they lack a sound legal basis...."
[It is especially important that Ashcroft has committed to having DOJ
defend the suppression of public access -- rather than forcing the
agency to provide its own defense if challenged in court. --jim]
[The DOJ is the executive branch's law firm and defends agencies in
court. here is no realistic "its own defense" option. What Ashcroft
meant is that DOJ will mount an aggressive defense as long as there's
some sort of reasonable legal claim and the federal agency isn't doing
something entirely nutty. --Declan]
The new FOIA policy statement, issued October 12, is posted here:
http://www.usdoj.gov/oip/foiapost/2001foiapost19.htm
For purposes of comparison, Attorney General Reno's 1993 memorandum
may be found here:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/clinton/reno.html
As with many of the Bush Administration's new restrictions on public
information, the new policy is only peripherally related to the fight
against terrorism. Rather, it appears to exploit the current
circumstances to advance a predisposition toward official secrecy.
[...]
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