WHITE HOUSE - Keeping of Secrets

"Obama White House keeping more secrets than any before" PBS NewsHour 3/19/2015

My opinion?  President Obama has just run up against the reality of the post-9/11 world.  Some things made public mean our enemies get the same information, which is not good.  Then add all the talk about 'privacy' and so why wonder some redactions may be about privacy.

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Despite a pledge to deliver the most open and transparent administration in U.S. history, some say that the Obama White House has fallen short on that promise, with harsh punishments for high-profile whistleblowers and a record number of Freedom of Information Act request denials.  Hari Sreenivasan learns more from Stephen Engelberg of ProPublica.

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  Even before he was elected, President Obama promised his would be the most open and transparent administration ever.  He can claim credit for some progress on that front, including opening up Presidential records, declassifying some data, and pushing federal agencies to reveal more information to the public.

But, by other measures, many experts and journalists say the administration falls far short, including in its treatment of high-profile whistleblowers.

And a new Associated Press analysis says the administration has set a record for denying access to files or censoring them under the Freedom of Information Act.

Hari Sreenivasan has the story.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  The analysis looked at requests for information made to 100 federal agencies last year by citizens, journalists and businesses.  More than 700,000 requests were made.  The Associated Press said the administration either denied access to information or censored in 39 percent of those requests.  That’s more than 250,000 cases overall.

Sometimes, the denial was small, such as a phone number.  Sometimes, it was the majority of a document.

On Tuesday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest was pressed on the administration’s transparency.  His analysis was quite different.

JOSH EARNEST, White House Press Secretary:  Across the administration, we actually do have a lot to brag about when it comes to responsiveness to Freedom of Information Act requests.

And just today, the Justice Department did release records or metrics to fiscal year 2014.  The administration in fiscal year 2014 alone processed 647,142 FOIA requests, and over 91 percent of those requests resulted in the release of either some or all of the requested records.