Abuse of Exec. powers: How can you assure that the power to seal documents claiming NS reasons is not abused?

Question

We are supposed to have a transparent govt....but it is possible and with good reason to seal documents re: national security.....but is there a safeguard or something in place to assure this power is not abused?

They can(and have) claimed SO much like that...is there a process they must go thru in order to do this...or do they just say....it's NS and it's sealed and that's it?

Answer 1

You can't and it is all a load of bull pucky. I work with classified docs all the time and the main reason for their classification is to protect sources and methods. Outside of that the government is owned by the people and the people should be allowed to see what it does. Why should a man setting our energy policy be allowed to hide who attended his meetings?

Congress does not have oversight over all documents unless they utilize subpoena power which they have refused to do for the last 6 years.

The only true safe guard is the Freedom Of Information Act and that is under attack.

Hold your hat and cross your fingers that the new Congress will change this.

By the way, military records are personal. Demanding there release is like demanding the release of a persons medical records. And while on that point, Kerry did release all his records and they are all available online.

Answer 2

Here in Canada, you can't assure that. You can only find out a few years later. Then you can say: "Oh well, the party that was in power at that time is no longer the same. We can vote them in again".

Answer 3

We can't even get Kerry or Murtha to release their military records which have nothing to do with NS, so no we'll never see them.

all? When you run for office nothing is private. or shouldn't be.

Answer 4

We can't. I'm sure there has been some abuse by every administration, with the Johnson admin probably having been the worst.

Answer 5

There is congressional oversight on these documents