Define Irony

[The Reaper]

This, from the man whose records and past are all being withheld, whose administration publishes classified documents regularly, and leaks secrets like a sieve.:rolleyes:

TR

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/28/obama-orders-review-secret-classification/?test=latestnews

Obama Orders Review of Top Secret Classification
President orders national security adviser James L. Jones to consult relevant agencies and recommend revisions in the existing presidential order on national security classification.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

WASHINGTON -- Expanding his drive to open government, President Barack Obama is ordering two studies of whether the government is classifying too much information and using too many different ways to keep it from public view.

He wants the answers in just 90 days, and it's no secret which way he's leaning.

In a memo Wednesday, Obama ordered national security adviser James L. Jones to consult relevant agencies and recommend revisions in the existing presidential order on national security classification that lays out the rules under which agencies can stamp documents "confidential," "secret" or "top secret."

That same memo also ordered Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to set up a governmentwide task force on standardizing so-called controlled but unclassified information. This is data with stamps like "for official use only" or "limited official distribution" that are not authorized by the executive order but have grown up over the years to keep sensitive data from the public even if it doesn't meet standards for national security classification.

Obama noted that there are now 107 different stamps for such data, also known as "sensitive but unclassified" information, and 130 different procedures for applying those stamps. He said a 2008 order by former President George W. Bush had "a salutary effect" in establishing a framework to begin standardizing these designations for sensitive terrorism-related data, but he asked the task force to recommend whether that work should be expanded to cover all sensitive but unclassified information governmentwide.

The tone of the memo suggested Obama thought a governmentwide effort would be a good idea.

Obama also directed this group to study the procedures for handling sensitive but unclassified data to be sure that "information is not restricted unless there is a compelling need."

While Obama didn't order any changes in government secrecy Wednesday, his memo contained language and set agendas for the two studies that hinted strongly at moves he might take. It was greeted with cheers from open government advocates who have long argued that government classifies too much information.

Echoing language he used earlier to open more government information to the public under the Freedom of Information Act, Obama said, "A democratic government must be as transparent as possible and must not withhold information for self-serving reasons or simply to avoid embarrassment."

Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, a private group that gathers and publishes declassified government documents and lobbies for more open government, applauded the memo.

"Sure, we could have hoped for the president to make decisions today," Blanton said, "but this is warp speed in bureaucratic terms." He noted that former President Bill Clinton took three years to revise the executive order on classification.

Blanton said the tasks assigned to the two studies and language in the memo make clear "the president's gut is in the right place. He's opting for transparency. This is about as clear a signal as you can get in a bureaucratic environment."

Among the tasks Obama set for Jones' study was to recommend whether to set up a National Declassification Center where officials from various agencies could work together on declassification of documents. Currently, there is a backlog of 51 million pages, scheduled for automatic declassification on Dec. 31, that have not been completely reviewed for release because the material had to be referred to as many as 10 different agencies for evaluation.

Obama also asked Jones to recommend whether to restore Clinton's "presumption against classification," that would bar classifying documents when there is significant doubt about the need for it. Bush eliminated that presumption.

And Obama asked Jones to recommend changes to increase sharing of classified information among appropriate agencies and to prohibit reclassification of material already released to the public properly. Blanton's group found that between 1999 and 2006, more than 150,000 publicly available pages had been reclassified governmentwide.

[The Reaper]

Now this just in, from the woman who insisted on a larger AF plane, to avoid a refueling stop on her way home every weekend, and to carry her entire entourage.

I wonder if HRH, Queen Nancy flew to this event commercial, to save the planet?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hLcZ2jQ4mu4rd7XlB3hetiVn1qbAD98F32AG0

Pelosi appeals for China's help on climate change
By AUDRA ANG – 8 hours ago

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Beijing on Thursday to cooperate on climate change, calling a safe environment a basic human right.

Speaking at Beijing's elite Tsinghua University, Pelosi continued the theme of her five-day China trip — that combating global warming represented a new challenge that both governments must tackle jointly.

"We are all in this together," Pelosi told an audience of about 200 students and faculty who applauded enthusiastically throughout the 45-minute session. "The impact of climate change is a tremendous risk to the security and well-being of our countries."

Pelosi's trip has been notable for skirting human rights and the fierce public criticisms she has frequently leveled at the authoritarian government.

The trip comes as President Barack Obama's administration has emphasized climate change as a new area where the two governments can broaden already wide-ranging engagement. The two countries are the biggest emitters of the carbon gases that are causing warming temperatures. Both governments are staking out positions ahead of a meeting late this year in Copenhagen that will try to forge agreement on targets and steps to reduce carbon emissions.

In a meeting Wednesday, the head of China's national legislature, Wu Bangguo, told Pelosi that climate change was a common challenge and that Beijing stood ready to work with Washington.

Turning around her usual criticisms about human rights, Pelosi linked global warming to environmental justice, saying the right to a clean environment is also a human right.

"I do see this opportunity for climate change to be ... a game-changer," she said at Tsinghua. "It's a place where human rights — looking out for the needs of the poor in terms of climate change and healthy environment — are a human right."

To achieve this, Pelosi said governments would have to make decisions and choices based on science.

"They also have to do it with openness, transparency and accountability to the people," she said. "Everyone has to have their situation improved by it."

In answering a question from a student about how Pelosi was going to get Americans to cut back on their carbon emissions, the leading Democratic lawmaker said it was important to educate children on how to conserve energy and for citizens to build more environmentally friendly homes.

"We have so much room for improvement," she said. "Every aspect of our lives must be subjected to an inventory ... of how we are taking responsibility."

Pelosi, who arrived Sunday, brought with her five members of a House committee on energy policy and global warming. A bill that would impose the first U.S. limits on greenhouse gas emissions was approved by a House committee last week, a step being considered by the full House later this year.

Pelosi's visit is part of a flurry of contacts between Washington and Beijing that highlight their wide-ranging cooperation on issues including North Korea's nuclear program and combatting the global economic slump.

Next week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner travels to Beijing.


http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypocrisy

hypocrisy

Main Entry: hy·poc·ri·sy
Pronunciation: \hi-ˈpä-krə-sē also hī-\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural hy·poc·ri·sies
Etymology: Middle English ypocrisie, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin hypocrisis, from Greek hypokrisis act of playing a part on the stage, hypocrisy, from hypokrinesthai to answer, act on the stage, from hypo- + krinein to decide — more at certain
Date: 13th century
1: a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not ; especially : the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion
2: an act or instance of hypocrisy

3: See Democratic leadership

TR

[Defender968]

Not only is it Ironic, but it's incredibly hypocritical, but it doesn’t surprise me at all, it does continue to disgust and amaze me. It only amazes me in that he and his minions say something totally unsupported by the reality of his/their actions and yet the MSM and much of the public continue to swoon and drink the cool aide. :mad:

[lindy]

E.O. (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-classified-national-security-information) signed 29 Dec establishes a Nation Declassification Center. Lovely! All of our secrets in one place for record review.

At least our kids will be able to find out what we did eventually.

Quick highlights:

Promoting Openness and Accountability by Making Classification a Two-Way Street

by William H. Leary

President Obama has issued a new executive order on “Classified National Security Information” that addresses the problem of over-classification in numerous ways and will allow researchers to gain timelier access to formerly classified records. Among the major changes are the following:

• It establishes a National Declassification Center at the National Archives to enable agency reviewers to perform collaborative declassification in accordance with priorities developed by the Archivist with input from the general public.
• For the first time, it establishes the principle that no records may remain classified indefinitely and provides enforceable deadlines for declassifying information exempted from automatic declassification at 25 years.
• For the first time, it requires agencies to conduct fundamental classification guidance reviews to ensure that classification guides are up-to-date and that they do not require unnecessary classification.
• It eliminates an Intelligence Community veto of certain decisions by the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel that was introduced in the Bush order.

While the Government must be able to prevent the public disclosure of information that would compromise the national security, a democratic government accountable to the people must be as transparent as possible and must not withhold information for self-serving reasons or simply to avoid embarrassment.

President Obama’s new Order strikes a careful balance between protecting essential secrets and ensuring the release of once sensitive information to the public as quickly and as fully as possible. It also comes after extensive online engagement with the public where more than 150 detailed and helpful comments from various stakeholders were received through the White House website.

Here's the EO:

This new Order replaces Executive Order 12958 that was issued by President Clinton in 1995 and later amended by President Bush in 2003. The President also issued a memorandum to heads of departments and agencies that directs additional steps agencies should take as they implement the Order.

Executive Order - Classified National Security Information

This order prescribes a uniform system for classifying, safeguarding, and declassifying national security information, including information relating to defense against transnational terrorism. Our democratic principles require that the American people be informed of the activities of their Government. Also, our Nation's progress depends on the free flow of information both within the Government and to the American people. Nevertheless, throughout our history, the national defense has required that certain information be maintained in confidence in order to protect our citizens, our democratic institutions, our homeland security, and our interactions with foreign nations. Protecting information critical to our Nation's security and demonstrating our commitment to open Government through accurate and accountable application of classification standards and routine, secure, and effective declassification are equally important priorities.

(COMMENT: the entire EO is pretty long but I thought this section was interesting.)

Sec. 3.3. Automatic Declassification. (a) Subject to paragraphs (b)–(d) and (g)–(j) of this section, all classified records that (1) are more than 25 years old and (2) have been determined to have permanent historical value under title 44, United States Code, shall be automatically declassified whether or not the records have been reviewed. All classified records shall be automatically declassified on December 31 of the year that is 25 years from the date of origin, except as provided in paragraphs (b)–(d) and (g)–(i) of this section.

(h) Not later than 3 years from the effective date of this order, all records exempted from automatic declassification under paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section shall be automatically declassified on December 31 of a year that is no more than 50 years from the date of origin, subject to the following:

[Box]

Like 'Jaron And The Long Road To Love' say...

"Yeah I’m goin’ take the high road
And do what the preacher told me to do
You keep messin’ up and I’ll keep prayin’ for you"

Its a brave new world... welcome to the land of change.

[Sigaba]

IIRC and FWIW, during a tour of the Ronald W. Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in 1993, an archivist said that President Reagan had wanted all of his administration's records immediately available to the American public but NARA had told him that the procedures in place had to be maintained.

IMO, section 4.4 is among the EO's most interesting components.Sec. 4.4. Access by Historical Researchers and Certain Former Government Personnel.

(a) The requirement in section 4.1(a)(3) of this order that access to classified information may be granted only to individuals who have a need to-know the information may be waived for persons who:
(1) are engaged in historical research projects;

(2) previously have occupied senior policy-making positions to which they were appointed or designated by the President or the Vice President; or

(3) served as President or Vice President.(b) Waivers under this section may be granted only if the agency head or senior agency official of the originating agency:(1) determines in writing that access is consistent with the interest of the national security;

(2) takes appropriate steps to protect classified information from unauthorized disclosure or compromise, and ensures that the information is safeguarded in a manner consistent with this order; and

(3) limits the access granted to former Presidential appointees or designees and Vice Presidential appointees or designees to items that the person originated, reviewed, signed, or received while serving as a Presidential or Vice Presidential appointee or designee.As the "agency head or senior agency official of the originating agency" is going to be a political appointee, I'm curious to see how this process will work if a researcher or former senior level official is writing on a topic in "the interest of national security" but not in the political interests of an incumbent president. (On the other hand, if all the parties involved are 'honest brokers,' then section 4.4 sets the stage for some spectacularly useful "official histories".)