Obama White House Rewrites FOIA To Exlude Its Own Records

by Ulsterman on March 19, 2014 with 0 Comments in News

Shortly after moving into the White House, the Obama administration set out to quickly rewrite the Freedom of Information Act to exclude itself from having to comply with the law.  This was done at a time when Obama officials were repeatedly promising, “the most transparent administration ever.”  Yet another example of tyranny from this White House and all who continue to prop it up under the weight of its own bloated, teetering mass of incompetence…
DWULSTERMAN.COM
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(via HotAir)

“Most transparent” White House ever rewrote FOIA to exclude its docs

That’s right, the Obama White House has quietly rewritten a portion of the Freedom Of Information Act to exclude what it calls “White House equities” from being released without a White House review.  The rewrite was inspired by a 2009 memo by then White House counsel, Greg Craig:
The Greg memo is described in detail in a new study made public today by Cause of Action, a Washington-based nonprofit watchdog group that monitors government transparency and accountability.

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How serious an attack on the public’s right to know is the Obama administration’s invention of the “White House equities” exception?
“FOIA is designed to inform the public on government behavior; White House equities allow the government to withhold information from the media, and therefore the public, by having media requests forwarded for review. This not only politicizes federal agencies, it impairs fundamental First Amendment liberties,” Cause of Action explains in its report.
The equities exception is breathtaking in its breadth. As the Greg memo put it, any document request is covered, including “congressional committee requests, GAO requests, judicial subpoenas and FOIA requests.”
And it doesn’t matter what format the documents happen to be in because, according to Greg, the equities exception “applies to all documents and records, whether in oral, paper, or electronic form, that relate to communications to and from the White House, including preparations for such communications.” 
What this effectively does is stop federal agencies from answering FOIA requests which might include “White House equities” within the 20 days required by law.  There is no apparent limit to the review time the White House can take with its “review” of such requests.  LINK
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And there you have it, the Obama regime rewrites the law allowing them a review period for which there is no defined end.  They can stonewall anything and everything if they so choose, and as many of you already know, that is exactly what they have done time and time again.  Fast and Furious, Solyndra, Benghazi, IRS, etc…   -UM
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