|
|
Vertaal:
              Bush Admin - Geslotenst Govt ooit?
Dinsdag, 16 September, 2008 (IPS) | Het beleid van President George W. Bush blijft overheidsgeheimhouding over een brede serie van agentschappen en acties - en aan zeer verhoogde kosten aan belastingbetalers, volgens een coalitie van groepen uitbreiden die grotere transparantie bevorderen. Dr. Patrice McDermott, directeur van Open de Overheid, een waakhondgroep, vertelde IPS, de „Federale overheid onder het beleid van Bush heeft zijn verplichting aan geheimhouding getoond door waar het zijn geld - meergeboden contracten heeft gezet, minder overheidswerknemers [het Akte van de Vrijheid van Informatie] verwerken verzoeken FOIA, minder bij de opleiding op classificatiekwesties, en bijna 200 dollars die besteed bij het houden van geheimen aan elke dollar die wordt bestemd om hen te openen.“ „Gegeven ons groeiend tekort, de volgende moeilijke keuzen van beleidsgezichten in het herstellen van verantwoordelijke overheid,“ hij voegde toe. In zijn „Kaart 2008 van het Rapport van de Geheimhouding,“ vrijgegeven Sep. 9, de groep besloten dat het beleid van Bush „ongekende niveaus niet alleen van beperking van toegang tot informatie over het beleid en de besluiten van de federale overheid, maar ook van afschaffing van bespreking van die beleid en hun het ondersteunen en bronnen.“ uitoefende Open de Overheid is een In Washington gevestigde coalitie van consument en goede overheidsgroepen, bibliothecarissen, milieudeskundigen, arbeid, journalisten, en anderen. Het zegt dat die classificatieactiviteit beduidend hoger blijft dan vóór 2001. In 2006, steeg het aantal oorspronkelijke classificatiebesluiten tot 233.639, na het dalen voor de twee vorige jaren. De overheid besteedde 195 dollars reeds handhavend de geheimen aan de boeken voor elke één dollar het het vrijgeven documenten in 2007, een vijf percentenverhoging van één jaar besteedde. Tezelfdertijd werden minder pagina's vrijgegeven dan in 2006. De 16 de intelligentieagentschappen van de natie, die van een groot segment declassification aantallen rekenschap geven, zijn uitgesloten van de totale gemelde cijfers. De geclassificeerde of „zwarte“ programma's gaven van ongeveer 31.9 miljard dollars, of 18 percent van het fiscaal jaar (FY) 2008 Ministerie de aanwinst rekenschap van van de Defensie (DOD) vorig jaar gevraagde financiering. De geclassificeerde aanwinst financiering heeft meer dan in reële waarden verdubbeld sinds FY 1995. Bijna 22 miljoen verzoeken werden ontvangen onder FOIA in 2007, een verhoging van bijna 2 percenten tijdens het vorige jaar. Maar een studie van 2008 openbaarde dat, in 2007, het besteden FOIA bij 25 zeer belangrijke agentschappen door 7.0 miljoen dollar, aan 233.8 miljoen dollar viel, en de agentschappen 209 minder mensen aan van de het werkverwerking Foia- verzoeken zetten. While the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court does not reveal much about its activities, the Department of Justice reported that, in 2007, the court approved 2,371 orders — rejecting only three and approving two left over from the previous year. Since 2000, federal surveillance activity under the jurisdiction of the court has risen for the ninth year in a row — more than doubling during the Bush administration. The court was established under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 1978 after revelations of the widespread wiretapping by the administration of Richard M. Nixon to spy on political and activist groups. Recently, efforts to reform the act have been triggered by the Bush administration’s admission that it had conducted secret surveillance programmes in the U.S. without warrants from the court. In addition, more than 25 percent (worth 114.2 billion dollars) of all contracts awarded by the federal government last year were not subject to open competition — a proportion that has remained largely unchanged for the last eight years. Investigations by Congress and independent government agencies of the war in Iraq have revealed billions of dollars in no-bid contracts, covering everything from delivering food and water to U.S. troops to providing armed security for U.S. officials and visiting dignitaries. There have been widespread allegations of waste, fraud and abuse by contractors. Several have been convicted and prosecutions of others are pending. During 2007, government-wide, 64 percent of meetings of the Federal Advisory Committee were closed to the public. Excluding groups advising three agencies that historically have accounted for the majority of closed meetings, 15 percent of the remainder were closed — a 24 percent increase over the number closed in 2006. These numbers do not reflect closed meetings of subcommittees and taskforces. The Federal Advisory Committee Act was passed in 1972 to ensure that advice by the various advisory committees formed over the years is objective and accessible to the public. The report also found that in seven years, President Bush has issued at least 156 “signing statements”, challenging over 1,000 provisions of laws passed by Congress. In 2007, eight were issued. The so-called “state secrets privilege” — invoked only six times between 1953 and 1976 — has been used by the Bush administration a reported 45 times, an average of 6.4 times per year in seven years. This is more than double the average (2.46) in the previous 24 years. The “state secrets privilege” is a legal doctrine that contends that admission of certain information into court proceedings would endanger U.S. national security. The Bush administration has frequently invoked the privilege to dismiss lawsuits that would be embarrassing to the government, and the courts have generally been deferential to the government’s claims. National Security Letter (NSL) requests continued to rise; the 2007 numbers are still classified, but the recently unclassified new number for 2006 shows a 4.7 percent increase in requests over 2005. Since enactment of the USA Patriot Act in 2001, the number of NSLs issued has seen an astronomical increase. The NSL provision of the Patriot Act radically expanded the authority of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to demand personal customer records from Internet Service Providers, financial institutions and credit companies without prior court approval. Through NSLs, the FBI is authorised to compile dossiers about innocent people and obtain sensitive information such as the web sites a person visits, a list of e-mail addresses with which a person has corresponded, or even unmask the identity of a person who has posted anonymous speech on a political website. The provision also allows the FBI to forbid or “gag” anyone who receives an NSL from telling anyone about the record demand. Have Your Say: Bush Admin - The Most Secretive Govt Ever? Please read our posting guidelines before posting. Alternatively you can discuss this report here. Related News
|
Banks of Marble Last post by Thinking Man's Idiot @ 01:21 AM Go to Forum
| Latest Topics
The Drug War's Latest Tally: 872,721 Pot Arrests, an All-Time High Last post by Nostalgia @ 01:18 AM Remembering Sabra & Shatilla Massacre Last post by Nostalgia @ 01:12 AM California seeks train operator cell phone ban Last post by Nostalgia @ 01:09 AM Who’s developing more wind power—U.S. or China? Last post by Thinking Man's Idiot @ 01:05 AM Ozone Hole Larger Than Last Year Last post by Nostalgia @ 01:04 AM Can't Sleep / Won't Sleep (16th September) Last post by Thinking Man's Idiot @ 12:04 AM "NOT VERY INTERESTING" - Haiti, New Orleans And Media Hypocrisy Last post by Thinking Man's Idiot @ 11:53 PM Palin Keeps Lying, and Lying, and … Last post by Thinking Man's Idiot @ 11:41 PM Who's top of the class? Last post by Thinking Man's Idiot @ 11:25 PM  Email This Page To A Friend Latest Headlines
More Breaking News  Archive |
The views expressed in the RINF news wire and newsletter are the sole responsibility of the author (s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the webmaster. RINF.COM: Breaking News & Alternative Media is Copyleft - Copy & Distribute Freely. News Forum |
Loading ...
