This month鈥檚 issue of , a British magazine that promotes freedom of expression, considers the future of free expression in the U.S. after the Presidency of George W. Bush. The issue entitled 鈥溾�� features several articles from leading activists, writers and journalists that examine the culture of secrecy, surveillance and executive authority associated with the Bush administration.
While the 老澳门开奖结果 has obtained thousands of pages through the FOIA, some CIA documents have been heavily redacted
, director of the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy and author of writes about the many steps that will need to be taken in the months and years to come to tackle the unprecedented growth in secrecy under Bush in his article (PDF).
, author of Chatter: Dispatched from the Secret World of Global Eavesdropping and frequent contributor to The New Yorker and Slate considers the lack of oversight of the Bush administration鈥檚 wiretapping program in his article (PDF).
And the Director of the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 National Security Project, Jameel Jaffer, writes about the many remaining secrets of the Bush administration, particularly in regard to detention and interrogation policies, in his article (PDF). Jaffer discusses the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 ongoing Freedom of Information Act litigation that seeks to unearth documents about the abuse and torture of prisoners. He writes:
The information that has been released thus far is incomplete, but it paints a grim picture. We know that the administration鈥檚 lawyers invented a new legal framework鈥eant to permit barbaric interrogation practices and to insulate interrogators and officials from prosecution for war crimes. We know that, in reliance on this new legal framework, interrogators subjected prisoners to abuse and even torture鈥A]buse of prisoners was systemic, not limited to Abu Ghraib鈥� [H]undreds of prisoners have died in the custody of US military and 鈥� many other have disappeared into the CIA鈥檚 secret detention system鈥�
The FOIA has proved to be an essential tool, but over the last eight years we have learned that it is not sufficient in itself to ensure the kind of transparency 鈥� let alone the kind of accountability 鈥� that democracy requires. An administration committed to obfuscation can, with the silence or support of the political branches, thwart the public鈥檚 access to even the most fundamental information. President elect Obama has promised to run 鈥榯he most transparent government鈥� in American history. Come January, he could begin to make good on that promise by ordering executive agencies to release the torture files that are still secret.鈥�
You can read these articles and several others .
