From PeterK's RAIN:
Historians hope Obama will undo records order
Houston Chronicle - United States
By KEN HERMAN WASHINGTON - Historians and open-records advocates are
counting on President-elect Barack Obama to undo a 2001 executive order
by President ...
<http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6192113.html>
I can imagine this quote will raise a few archival hackles!
++++++++++++++++
Quoted from the article:
"On Nov. 1, 2001, Bush issued Executive Order 13233 giving ex-presidents
and, for the first time, their heirs, broad authority to block release
of White House records for any reason and in perpetuity.
"Let's say a former president dies," said former Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales, who was White House counsel when the order was issued.
"Who is in a position then to make the decision with respect to
privilege?
"One could say leave it to the (national) archivist. Why is the
archivist a better person to make that kind of determination,
necessarily?" he said. "You may have a family member who could be
totally objective, as objective as an archivist. An archivist might be
predisposed to releasing everything, irrespective of impact on
(national) security, irrespective of other damage to other kinds of
issues and matters."
+++++++++++++++++
This is really insulting to archivists! Simply put: an archivist would
be "a better person to make that kind of determination" because of
professional training and experience, and, due to that experience, would
not be "predisposed to releasing everything irrespective of impact on
(national) security".
Dwight Wallis, CRM
Records Administrator
Multnomah County Fleet, Records, Electronics, Distribution and Stores
(FREDS)
1620 S.E. 190th Avenue
Portland, OR 97233
Phone: (503)988-3741
Fax: (503)988-3754
[log in to unmask]
List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]
|
