Secrecy in the sunshine era : the promise and failures of US open government laws / Jason Ross Arnold.
2014
KF5753 .A976 2014 (Map It)
Available at Cellar
Formats
| Format | |
|---|---|
| BibTeX | |
| MARCXML | |
| TextMARC | |
| MARC | |
| DublinCore | |
| EndNote | |
| NLM | |
| RefWorks | |
| RIS |
Items
Details
Author
Title
Secrecy in the sunshine era : the promise and failures of US open government laws / Jason Ross Arnold.
Published
Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, [2014]
Copyright
©2014
Call Number
KF5753 .A976 2014
ISBN
9780700619924 (hardback : acid-free paper)
0700619925 (hardback : acid-free paper)
0700619925 (hardback : acid-free paper)
Description
xiv, 542 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
System Control No.
(OCoLC)880418956
Summary
"Despite laws such as the Freedom of Information Act and Government in the Sunshine Act among others that promise an open and transparent government, maintaining the secrecy of government actions and proceedings remains too often the default reaction of federal government officials. In this book Jason Arnold explores the surprising extent of government secrecy in both national security and domestic policy areas in administrations since the 1970s. He lays out the costs of excessive secrecy, shows how government agencies keep their proceedings secret, and suggests remedies to promote a more open government. This is a timely contribution to the national debates about government secrecy sparked by the actions of Edward Snowden and the revelation about the extent of secret government spying on civilians here and abroad"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Record Appears in
Gift
Purchased from the income of the Edith L. Fisch Fund
Gift
The Arthur W. Diamond Law Library
Purchased from the income of the Edith L. Fisch Fund
Table of Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
xi
ch. 1
Introduction
1
The Promise
2
The Pitfalls
4
Comparing Sunshine-Era Administrations
6
Organization of the Book
9
ch. 2
Excessive Secrecy and Institutional Change
14
Necessary and Unnecessary Secrecy
14
What Do You Need to Know? What Do You Need to Not Know?
18
The Consequences of Growing and Excessive Secrecy
23
Explaining Excessive Secrecy
36
Explaining Change in the Secrecy Regime
39
ch. 3
Keeping Secrets, during Settled and Unsettled Times
55
A "Pearl Harbor Sort of Purple American Fury": 9/11 as a National Security Crisis and a Window of Opportunity
55
The Rise of Mosaic Theory
57
Tightening up FOIA Administration: Returning to Reagan-Bush Rules
65
Classified Information
78
Conclusion
94
ch. 4
Violating FACA from the Start: A History of Presidential Defiance
97
The Bush-Cheney Administration
97
The Clinton-Gore Administration
108
Bush-Quayle: The Most FACA Compliant
118
Reagan-Bush: FACA Defiers par Excellence
120
Conclusion
132
ch. 5
Secret Law: The "Sinister Trend That Has Gone Relatively Unnoticed"
134
The Legality of Secret Law
135
Secret Law in the OLC before Bush-Cheney
139
Clinton-Gore Did Not Invent It: Secret Law in the Bush-Quayle and Reagan-Bush OLCs
142
Before Bush-Quayle
145
Beyond the OLC, Part 1: Secret "Controlling Interpretations" of FISA
146
Beyond the OLC, Part 2: National Security Directives
152
Propaganda and Secret Law in the Bush-Cheney Years: Back to the OLC
159
Conclusion
163
ch. 6
Presidential Secrecy in the Courts
165
Secret Evidence
165
State Secrets Privilege
180
ch. 7
Secret Science: From Bush-Cheney to Bush-Quayle
200
Secret Science
200
The Bush-Cheney Administration
202
"An Unprecedented Pattern of Behavior"?
220
The Clinton-Gore Administration
223
The Bush-Quayle Administration
234
ch. 8
Secret Science: The Reagan-Bush Administration
245
A "Dense Fog of Concealment" about Agent Orange: Secret Data, a Bungled Study, and the Impact on Vietnam Veterans
245
The Wider War to Protect Dioxins and Their Manufacturers
252
Concealing and Fudging Mortality Rates at the VA
261
The Omb's New Filter
264
Safeguarding Nuclear Secrets
271
Other Ways to Keep Unclassified Information from Scientists
276
Conclusion
279
ch. 9
When All Else Fails: Shredding, Burning, Deleting, or Whatever It Takes
281
Nixon's Advice
281
The Shredding Party
283
Shredding Secrets: When Blocking Access Is Not Enough
285
National Security Archive versus Reagan, Bush, and Clinton
286
Judicial Watch versus (Clinton-Gore) Department of Commerce
290
The Bush-Cheney Administration
292
Conclusion
322
ch. 10
"The Most Open and Transparent Administration in History"?
324
The Promise
326
A "Glass Half Full"?
327
These Are Not Reflections of a "Most Transparent Administration"
334
Secret Law
341
Secrecy and the Courts
347
The Federal Advisory Committee Act
353
Secret Science
359
Conclusion
366
Epilogue: Snowden's Revelations
367
ch. 11
Conclusions
374
What Can Be Done?
379
Notes
387
Index
511