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US Inspector Generals demand access to information

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sonofghandi
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14 Aug 2014, 9:37 am

http://www.npr.org/2014/08/13/340127340/government-watchdogs-complain-of-closed-doors-set-up-by-white-house

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Forty-seven IGs signed a letter this month highlighting problems with access to federal records ? problems they say slow their investigations and threaten their independence.

"If the IG community cannot rally around getting access to data, access to information, what can they rally around?" asks Brian Miller, who served as inspector general at the General Services Administration for nine years. "You know, this is, this is vital."


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Humanaut
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14 Aug 2014, 9:56 am

It could be a matter of national security.



sonofghandi
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14 Aug 2014, 10:07 am

Humanaut wrote:
It could be a matter of national security.


Although that argument has been used to bar inspection in the past (and probably will far into the future), it doesn't really add up. To become an Inspector General you must pass an exhaustive background check and obtain and maintain Top Secret clearance.


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Humanaut
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14 Aug 2014, 5:49 pm

We can only speculate.



sonofghandi
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15 Aug 2014, 6:50 am

Humanaut wrote:
We can only speculate.


Unfortunately, this only too true.

The Freedom of Information Act was amazing (and still is), but there are enough built in loopholes that a lot of things that people really ought to know about gets sealed away by just being labelled as "sensitive information."


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Humanaut
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15 Aug 2014, 6:58 am

sonofghandi wrote:
The Freedom of Information Act was amazing (and still is), but there are enough built in loopholes that a lot of things that people really ought to know about gets sealed away by just being labelled as "sensitive information."

Maybe, if the information is sensitive, then, perhaps, people shouldn't know about it?



sonofghandi
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15 Aug 2014, 7:19 am

Humanaut wrote:
sonofghandi wrote:
The Freedom of Information Act was amazing (and still is), but there are enough built in loopholes that a lot of things that people really ought to know about gets sealed away by just being labelled as "sensitive information."

Maybe, if the information is sensitive, then, perhaps, people shouldn't know about it?


The problem is that the same ones who classify the information are the same ones that can hide some pretty unethical and illegal garbage behind that little wall. That is part of the reason the Inspector Generals are supposed to be able to inspect all aspects of the government.


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Humanaut
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15 Aug 2014, 7:28 am

Who will inspect the inspectors?



sonofghandi
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15 Aug 2014, 7:31 am

Humanaut wrote:
Who will inspect the inspectors?


Everything they do is publicly available information. Although most of it is only available after the final drafts are completed.

So anyone with intenet access and the willingness to dig through hundreds of pages of boredom can do the inspecting. Which does limit it to a very few people (like me) who even bother.


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15 Aug 2014, 7:38 am

sonofghandi wrote:
Humanaut wrote:
Who will inspect the inspectors?

Everything they do is publicly available information.

What they don't do is more interesting.



sonofghandi
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15 Aug 2014, 8:07 am

Humanaut wrote:
sonofghandi wrote:
Humanaut wrote:
Who will inspect the inspectors?

Everything they do is publicly available information.

What they don't do is more interesting.


Personally, I would call it equally interesting.


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15 Aug 2014, 11:03 am

the most transparent administration in history *snort*

the old government adage that "if you're doing nothing wrong then you have nothing to hide" should apply to them more than anyone.

does anybody honestly believe that Lois Lerner emails all coincidentally got wiped out in a computer crash? I don't even thing that is possible. They're lying thru their teeth.

Edward Snowden is an American hero that is currently a fugitive that our government wants dead, how can anybody defender our criminal government?



sonofghandi
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15 Aug 2014, 11:26 am

Jacoby wrote:
the most transparent administration in history *snort*

the old government adage that "if you're doing nothing wrong then you have nothing to hide" should apply to them more than anyone.

does anybody honestly believe that Lois Lerner emails all coincidentally got wiped out in a computer crash? I don't even thing that is possible. They're lying thru their teeth.

Edward Snowden is an American hero that is currently a fugitive that our government wants dead, how can anybody defender our criminal government?


^Right there with you in all aspects.

But I'd have to say this is an ongoing problem that really started ramping up at the beginnings of the Cold War with the USSR.


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