Posted on 11/01/2001 9:08:59 AM PST by callisto
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush will soon issue an executive order allowing a sitting president to withhold a predecessor's papers from the public - even if the past president wanted them released.
The White House denied Thursday the move, which has raised the ire of historians and others who work with presidential records, was designed to shroud the actions of current Bush aides who worked in previous administrations.
"That's a mischaracterization," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.
He said Bush is simply seeking to establish a process for releasing documents under the 1978 Presidential Records Act. The act, enacted after Watergate and former President Nixon's attempts to hold on to his papers and tape recordings, provides for the systematic release of presidential records 12 years after the administration is out of office.
Bush has delayed three times the release of 68,000 pages of confidential communications between President Reagan and his advisers, including vice presidential papers from Bush's father. The papers were to come out in January, the first set scheduled to be released under the 1978 law.
The White House last delayed their release in August, setting no deadline and saying it needed time to review the records since the release would set a precedent for future administrations.
The National Archives, including the Reagan library, wants to make the Reagan documents public.
Fleischer said Bush's order would create "national security exceptions, or executive exceptions if any are required" to the release of papers of former presidents and the current one. He said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were a compelling reason for having a layer of review by the White House before papers are released.
"The purpose deals with ... valid, ongoing security needs that someone who left office 12 years ago may not be aware of," Fleischer said. "It provides for a safety valve for a current administration to also review that information, discuss it with the reps of a previous president, so if there is something that makes it a current security issue ... there's a proper procedure to have the information released while maintaining any security needs."
He denied that the White House is seeking to protect those who worked in the Reagan and previous Bush administrations. Asked whether Bush's order would make it more difficult for reporters or researchers to access presidential documents, Fleischer said, "You have to read the executive order to make that determination."
Anna Nelson, a declassification expert and historian at American University, said a current administration has no business interpreting what a past administration wants out or doesn't want out.
"That's politically explosive, if nothing else," she said.
She said Bush's draft executive order is in direct contradiction of the Presidential Records Act, which says presidential documents are to be opened in 12 years.
"I think its a travesty," Nelson said. "I think Congress ought to do something about it."
Steve Aftergood, director of the government secrecy project at the Federation of American Scientists, said the Bush administration is making it twice as difficult to get access to documents of past administrations.
He said no one, especially considering America's new war on terrorism, would object to keeping national security documents under wraps. But he said there already were provisions to prevent the release of these type of records.
AP-ES-11-01-01 1149EST
I feel the same way about the hold up of appointees to this administration and the bench.
That's a lot of pages to sift through. It seems to me that they ought to release what they can now, and postpone the questionable ones. They could even consult with Congress about amending this act, if it seems appropriate.
Cite, please.
I happen to "know" classified information from over twenty years ago.
AFAIK, it's still classified and NOT to be revealed.
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