The Bush-Cheney Administration's Assault on Open Government

by Bruce P. Montgomery

Overview

The Bush-Cheney administration took office in 2001 determined to assert the preeminent authority of the executive branch and its immunity from congressional oversight and public transparency. Within months, Congress's Use of Force resolution on the heels of the 9/11 terrorist attacks gave the White House the platform for launching an aggressive and successful campaign to gut the nation's open government laws, neuter congressional prerogatives, and shroud the presidency in privilege and secrecy. With military precision, the wartime executive targeted and struck down or flouted all the landmark sunshine laws enacted by Congress over the preceding decades.

With military precision, the wartime executive targeted and struck down or flouted all the landmark sunshine laws enacted by Congress over the preceding decades: DT Freedom of Information Act (1966) DT Presidential Records Act (1978) DT Budget and Accounting Act establishing the General Accountability Office (1921) DT Federal Advisory Committee Act (1972) DT Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (1978) Montgomery, who founded the world's largest academic repository of contemporary human rights documents, concludes with a summary of the aggregate impact of Bush-Cheney's attacks on open and balanced government and their implications for the future of constitutional and human rights in the United States.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275999049
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/28/2008
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

BRUCE P. MONTGOMERY is Associate Professor and Faculty Director of Archives at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is the founding director of the UCB Human Rights Initiative and a founding member of the International Federation of Human Rights Centers and Archives. He has served as an analyst of classified documents for the U.S. government. He is the author of Subverting Open Government: White House Materials and Executive Branch Politics. Articles by Montgomery on this topic have appeared in many jourbanals and newspapers, including Presidential Studies Quarterly and the Washington Post.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1 Freedom of Information Act in Retreat
2 Overturbaning the Presidential Records Act
3 Challenging the GAOs Statutory Powers
4 Defeating the Federal Advisory Committee Act
5 Subverting the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
Notes
Bibliography

What People are Saying About This

Steven Aftergood

"Before we can find our way to open, accountable government, we need to realize just how far we have drifted in the opposite direction. This provocative book helps illuminate the erosion of open government in recent years, and so it helps lay the foundation for change."

Lucy Dalglish

"Montgomery's book substantiates what many of us have felt in our gut for the past six years: Democracy has been under assault by the Bush administration. In an effort to reclaim executive powers they believe were taken away from the president after the Watergate era, these public officials have eviscerated the rights of American citizens to participate in their government."

Editorial Reviews

Montgomery outlines how the Bush-Cheney administration has shielded the federal government from public inspection by curtailing access to information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), obstructed access to presidential records, invoked national security for keeping secrets, and conducted wiretaps without warrants. . . . Montgomery illustrates how the Bush-Cheney administration used executive privilege and prerogatives to circumvent open government laws. Recommended.” —Choice

From the Publisher