On Nov. 1, 2001, less than two months after Sept. 11, President Bush issued Executive Order 13233. Considering that horrendous event, one would imagine it might have something to do with the nation’s security.

Alas, that was not the case. It was solely for the benefit of the vice president, president and his father’s security. This order revoked Executive Order 12667, which kept presidential papers protected from being made public for 12 years. Now they could be kept secret forever.

If a request for access to a past president’s papers is made, that president and the current president must both agree that the documents can be released. This includes requests from Congress and the courts.

The prior order had given presidents 30 days to consider release or claim executive privilege. The attorney general and president’s counsel would first review the papers to see if the executive privilege applied. Then the archivist could determine whether to disclose the papers despite the claim of privilege.

The law used to justify this change was Nixon v. Administrator of General Services. That fact speaks loudly and clearly to our collective memory.

The pet phrase of Republicans during the Clinton years was, “If he’s got nothing to hide then why not turn over such and such’ documents?” It seems that is to be applied to opponents only and not to themselves.

What were the president and vice president contemplating when they came up with this wall of secrecy? What are they afraid of?

Thomas McDonald-Sawyer,

Auburn

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