classified

[cpaul]

below is perhaps related to...

http://www.google.com/search?q=prescott+bush+nazi


* * * 



Bush restricts presidential records

Executive order stuns advocates of open government

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 - President Bush issued an order Thursday night
that lets past presidents, beginning with Ronald Reagan, keep some of their
White House papers private even after the 12-year wait now required by law.
Advocates for government declassification expressed disbelief and said the
order would usher in a new era of government secrecy.

ABOUT 68,000 pages of Reagan's White House records, including the vice
presidential papers from President Bush's father, were supposed to have been
opened in January, 12 years after Reagan left office, as provided by law.
But the White House delayed the release three times to review constitutional
and legal questions.

White House counsel Alberto Gonzales defended Bush's executive order
Thursday and did not say when or whether the Reagan papers would be opened
to the public.

Vanderbilt University historian Hugh Graham said the draft was a "real
monster" and complained, "They would reverse an act of Congress with an
executive order." Bruce Craig, director of the National Coordinating
Committee for the Promotion of History, said it was "blatantly unlawful top
to bottom." He predicted a quick legal challenge.

The issue likely will come up Tuesday at a House Government Reform
subcommittee hearing, initially scheduled before the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks.

Reagan's records were to have been the first released under the 1978
Presidential Records Act, which followed Watergate and former President
Richard Nixon's attempts to hold on to his papers and tape recordings. It
made presidential records the property of government, not ex-presidents.

KEY ISSUE: EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE

Under the act, presidential records are to be released after 12 years,
except for those withheld for national security or certain personal reasons
specified by law. A former president can still claim executive privilege to
prevent the release of certain documents, but the sitting president has the
final say.

Under Bush's executive order, the sitting president could not override a
former president's claim of executive privilege. Those claims of executive
privilege, however, could be appealed in court, Gonzales said.

"It will not be driven by politics or what looks good. It will be driven by
what is allowed under the Constitution," Gonzales said. "Look, we haven't
withheld a single document yet. There's been a delay, no question about it,
but there has been no decision not to release a document. Let's see how this
process works."

FEAR OF EMBARRASSMENT

Some historians said they suspected that the Bush White House was worried
about what the Reagan papers might reveal about officials now working for
Bush who also worked for Reagan. Among them are Secretary of State Colin
Powell, budget director Mitch Daniels and Chief of Staff Andrew Card.
Gonzales said that was not the reason.

"There may, in fact, be embarrassing documents," he said, but he added that
that would not be considered a legitimate reason to withhold something.
Some historians suggested that the White House was using heightened public
interest in national security as a screen to clamp down on the release of
presidential papers.

Craig said the Bush White House might be worried that the war on terrorism
could generate documents it would rather not see exposed down the road.
"Everybody is in agreement that materials that can be used by terrorists to
threaten national security should be closed up," Craig said. "There already
are existing laws and exemptions that keep that kind of stuff closed up.
"This is about confidential information - communication between a president
and top people - that they would simply prefer not to be released to the
public."