Still Waiting For Those Changes

This is an eye-opener. Or maybe not -- we already know that the Obama administration is just as fond of keeping secrets as any other has been.

The Freedom of Information Act, the main tool forcing the government to be more transparent, is designed to be insulated from political considerations. Anyone who seeks information through the law is supposed to get it unless disclosure would hurt national security, violate personal privacy or expose confidential decision-making in certain areas. People can request government records without specifying why they want them and are not obligated to provide personal information about themselves other than their name and an address where the records should be sent.

But at the Homeland Security Department, since July 2009, career employees were ordered to provide political staffers with information about the people who asked for records — such as where they lived and whether they were private citizens or reporters — and about the organizations where they worked. If a member of Congress sought such documents, employees were told to specify Democrat or Republican. No one in government was allowed to discuss the political reviews with anyone whose information request was affected by them.

This is on top of withholding relevant documents.

At least Bush was honest about trampling on the law.

There's more, from a slightly different angle -- remember "Miranda rights?" -- the Obama administration doesn't like them very much, at least not for terrorists. From Glenn Greenwald.