Left to chance

ACLU requests secret Bush-era memos

The ACLU has tested President Obama early, requesting dozens of secret documents covering the Bush administrations’ justification for its spying and interrogation programs. If we could gleam even a bit of insight into the real excuses for the warrantless wiretapping and NSA eavesdropping, it could set a precedent for future government transparency.

For years, the Bush administration refused to release them, citing national security, attorney-client privilege and the need to protect the government’s deliberative process. The ACLU’s request, however, comes after President Barack Obama last week rescinded a 2001 Justice Department memo that gave agencies broad legal cover to reject public disclosure requests.

Obama also urged agencies to be more transparent when deciding what documents to release under the Freedom of Information Act. … “The president has made a very visible and clear commitment to transparency,” said Jameel Jaffer, the director of the ACLU’s National Security Project. “We’re eager to see that put into practice.” The collection of memos, written by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, are viewed as the missing puzzle pieces that could help explain the Bush administration’s antiterrorism policies. Critics of the prior administration also see the release of the documents as necessary to determine whether former administration officials should be held accountable for legal opinions that justified various antiterrorism measures, including the use of waterboarding, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning.