George Bush and Executive Order 13233

On November 1, 2001--just under two months after 9/11-- President Bush signed into effect Executive Order 13233. This order concerns making public the papers of the former president. Previously, the archivist from the Society of American Archivists, in consultation with the incumbent president and the attorney general could make public the records of the former president. Executive Order 13233 requires the consent of both the sitting president and either the former president or his relatives. This will prevent citizens from snooping around where they shouldn't. I can think of few more antidemocratic gestures than this. It guarantees, in effect, that we will never know the true extent of the corruption in the white house. We will only know what they want us to hear. See text: http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2001/11/eo-pra.html This executive order rescinds Executive Order 12667 which previously allowed the archivist the right to disclose presidential records. See text: http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo/eo-12667.html See the reaction to Executive Order 13233 by Steve Hensen, President of the Society of American Archivists: http://www.archivists.org/statements/stephenhorn.asp See also the New York Times op-ed piece by Kitty Kelley: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/10/opinion/10kelley.html?hp