The Obama Administration’s Newly Political Approach to FOIAs

National Review ^ | June 9, 2015 | By Eliana Johnson

[Behind Liberal Lines]

At the Treasury Department, the memo came down from the deputy executive secretary, Wally Adeyemo, in December of 2009. Going forward, the memo stated, “sensitive information” requested under the Freedom of Information Act was to be reviewed not only by career FOIA officials but also by a committee of political appointees... before release.

And it didn’t just happen at Treasury, but at the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security, too. Current and former FOIA attorneys at these agencies say documents requested by the media have come in for special scrutiny, called “sensitive review,” often holding up release for weeks or months. At times... political officials delayed the production of documents for political convenience.

The policy runs counter not just to the spirit and the letter of the Obama administration’s pledge to unprecedented transparency, but also to the spirit of the Freedom of Information Act itself.

The behavior is part of a series of revelations about how the Obama administration has failed to live up to its lofty promises of openness and worked to avoid disclosure to the public.

The media has made its dissatisfaction clear: A July 2014 letter signed by dozens of journalists’ organizations chronicled their complaints and called on the president to be more transparent. “The stifling of free expression is happening despite your pledge on your first day in office to bring ‘a new era of openness’ to federal government — and the subsequent executive orders and directives which were supposed to bring such openness about,” the letter said.

Though the Freedom of Information Act is intended to be a force for transparency insulated from politics, career FOIA attorneys say “sensitive review” introduced explicitly political considerations into the process. In internal documents ...career officials voiced their discomfort and dismay with the new, unorthodox treatment of FOIAs.

[Fido969]

The most transparent administration of all time.

[tgusa]

R.I.C.O.

[FreeAtlanta]

D.I.T.O to R.I.C.O

[FreeAtlanta]

D.I.T.O to R.I.C.O

[Larry381]

We're being mis-governed by a political crime syndicate and nothing has been done or will be done to stop it.
I'm guessing that some of Obwana's media pimps have a few injurious and harmful stories about the little prince but will not dare let them see the light of day until after the little gangster leaves office.
But it will make no difference because Obama has so succeeded in changing the fabric of the country he hates that much of his morally reprehensible handiwork will stand.
It's too late!

[SharpRightTurn]

“The media has made its dissatisfaction clear”

But it won’t prevent them from continuing to worship the Lyin’ King.