Libertarian Vegan

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called on the Justice Department last week to release secret Bush administration documents dealing with torture, surveillance and other controversial policies.

Last week the ACLU sent a letter to the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Consel (which provided legal advice to the Bush administration), saying, “the release of the memos would allow the public to better understand the legal basis for the Bush administration’s national security policies; to better understand the role that the OLC played in developing, justifying, and advocating those policies; and to participate more meaningfully in the ongoing debate about national security, civil liberties, and human rights.”

This is part of a fight for information they have been waging for five years.  Their efforts have not been in vain, and has resulted in a wealth of information being released.  For example, a Freedom of Information Act request in 2003 for records of abuse of detainees in United States custody abroad resulted in some 100,000 pages, which are now available in searchable format on the ACLU’s website.

For a very well documented list of Bush administration memos known to exist but still hidden from public view, see the chart on ProPublica by Dan Nguyen and Christopher Weaver.

Among the interesting titles are:

Fourth Amendment doesn’t apply to military operations abroad or in U.S

Options for interpreting the Geneva Conventions

President’s authority to detain U.S. citizens

and a number that are titled, Approval of CIA interrogation techniques.

After Obama’s declaration that he wanted federal agencies to err on the side of releasing information when it comes to FOIA requests , this would seem an opportune time for the Justice Department to start things off on the right foot.

Sources: ACLU - Office of Legal Counsel Memos

ProPublica - The Missing Memos

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