My old friend Jim Bovard, a one-man watchdog against government wrongdoing, wisely calls on incoming president Donald Trump “to open the books and expose how the Obama administration commandeered far more power than most Americans realized.” Bovard specifically refers to records regarding President Obama’s drone assassination program, intervention in Syria, and bombing of Libya. Bovard also points out that Obama has a horrendous Freedom of Information record, particularly regarding the homeland-security department and Transportation Security Administration.
As Bovard puts it:
“It is vital for a Trump White House to compel disclosures because the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has become largely a mirage. While Obama boasted of ‘the most transparent administration in history,’ federal agencies slammed the door on routine requests — especially from the media. The Associated Press reported in 2015 that the Obama administration ‘set a record again for censoring government files or outright denying access to them’ under FOIA. Federal agencies were also hit by a record number of lawsuits contesting FOIA denials in 2015….
“Regardless of the policies that Trump chooses, it would be a booster shot for democracy to reveal the back story of the Obama era.”
