Hitting the ground running
These executive orders and memos are gathered at my favorite archivist of open, secret and classified documents, Cryptome. Most are short: no more than a page, and well worth the read. My heart is made glad by all of them, but the open government, presidential records, and FOIA ones are particularly exciting. If transparency is truly in place, then a lot of other repairs can follow. ‘If’ being the operative word. I’ll believe it when I see it. In the meantime, this seems like a really good start. And not half bad for three days work.
Assistance for Voluntary Population Planning is back. Presidential memorandum of January 22, 2001 is revoked:
Obama Order on Abortion Foreign Aid January 24, 2009
The start of an Open Government Directive. “My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government…Government should be transparent…Government should be participatory…Government should be collaborative.”
Obama Memo on Open Government January 23, 2009
Belt-tightening for all: “…as a signal of our shared commitment to restoring the country’s economic vitality and because of the serious economic conditions we are facing…”
Obama Memo on White House Staff Pay Freeze January 23, 2009
Not just closing Gitmo, halting the Military Commissions too:
Obama Order on Gitmo Closure January 22, 2009
And let’s not forget the guy who isn’t at Gitmo but isn’t in the regular legal system, either:
Obama Memo on Detainee Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri January 23, 2009
Setting up a task force to have a close look at what’s been going on, detentions-wise:
Obama Order on Detention Policy January 22, 2009
In the meantime, let’s stop being creepy sadists and go back to the rulebook: “All executive directives, orders, and regulations inconsistent with this order, including but not limited to those issued to or by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from September 11, 2001, to January 20, 2009, concerning detention or the interrogation of detained individuals, are revoked to the extent of their inconsistency with this order”:
Obama Order on Lawful Interrogations January 22, 2009
Lobbyist gift ban. Revolving door ban. Lobbyists entering government ban:
Obama Order on Executive Branch Ethics January 21, 2009
Executive Order 13233 of November 1, 2001, is revoked. Former and incumbent presidents may claim executive privilege if they fear their secrets are about to be spilled, but it might not do them much good, as the Archivist gets to check in with the AG and others.
Obama Order on Presidential Records January 21, 2009
FOIA gets its spine back: “In responding to requests under the FOIA, executive branch agencies (agencies) should act promptly and in a spirit of cooperation, recognizing that such agencies are servants of the public”:
Obama Orders FOIA Obedience January 21, 2009
Bush flies away. AWAY!
January 26th, 2009 at 1:20 am
[...] but part of an impressive opening salvo that is a very auspicious start in the matter: see here at the Blue Mouse Monkey blog for an impressive overview of the first presidential [...]