Executive Order 13233
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Executive Order 13233, restricting access to the records of former presidents and drafted by White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales, was issued by President George W. Bush on November 1, 2001 shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks. President Bush issued the order just as the National Archives was preparing to release a small portion of the records of the Reagan administration. Section 13 of EO 13233 revoked Executive Order 12667, of January 18, 1989.
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Veiled Presidential records
EO 13233 restricts access to the records of former Presidents:
- "...reflecting military, diplomatic, or national security secrets, Presidential communications, legal advice, legal work, or the deliberative processes of the President and the President's advisers, and to do so in a manner consistent with the Supreme Court's decisions in Nixon v. Administrator of General Services, 433 U.S. 425 (1977), and other cases..."
Online access to EO 13233 was reportedly made unavailable at the time of issuance.[1] (http://www.525reasons.com/archives/000577.html)
Background
In 1974, the Congress of the United States placed the presidential records of Richard Nixon in federal custody to prevent their destruction. The law's intent to discourage, if not prevent, abuse of power by the veil of secrecy. The action was intended to promote a reduction of secrecy while allowing historians to perform their responsibilities. Just two years earlier, in 1972, decades of official and unofficial Federal Bureau of Investigation records had been destroyed, upon the death of J. Edgar Hoover, by his longtime secretary. The Presidential Records Act of 1978 mandated the records of a former president become the property of the federal government upon his leaving the Oval Office, and then transferred to the Archivist of the United States, thereafter to be made available to the public after no more than 12 years.
Critical response
The Society of American Archivists was among many groups, including librarians, who took umbrage at the President's exercise of executive power by issuing EO 13233, stating EO 13233 "violates both the spirit and letter of existing U.S. law on access to presidential papers as clearly laid down in 44 U.S.C. 2201-2207," adding, the order "potentially threatens to undermine one of the very foundations of our nation."
White House directive to Archivist
In a White House memo dated March 23, 2001, Counsel to the President conveyed the following to John W. Carlin, Archivist of the United States:
- "Section 2(b) of Executive Order 12667, issued by former President Ronald Reagan on January 16, 1989, requires the Archivist of the United States to delay release of Presidential records at the instruction of the current President. On behalf of the President, I instruct you to extend for 90 days (until June 21, 2001) the time in which President Bush may claim a constitutionally based privilege over the Presidential records that former President Reagan, acting under Section 2204(a) of Title 4, has protected from disclosure for the 12 years since the end of his Presidency. This directive applies as well to the Vice Presidential records of former Vice President George H.W. Bush."
See also
External links
- ALA.org (http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=Intellectual_Freedom_Issues&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=2417) - 'Executive Order 13233', American Library Association
- ARL.org (http://www.arl.org/info/frn/gov/hornletter.html) - 'Serious concerns with Executive Order 13233 on Further Implementation of the Presidential Records Act' (Letter to Representative Stephen Horn), American Association of Law Libraries, American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries, National Humanities Alliance
- Archivists.org (http://www.archivists.org/statements/stephenhorn.asp) - 'Society of American Archivists responds to Executive Order 13233 on Presidential Papers' (November 6, 2001)
- Archivists.org (http://www.archivists.org/news/actnow.asp) - 'Call to Action on Executive Order 13233: A Message from President Steve Hensen', Society of American Archivists (November 15, 2001)
- FindArticles.com (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go2158/is_200203/ai_n6772820) - 'American Political Science Association response to Executive Order 13233' (Letter to Representative Stephen Horn), Robert D. Putnam, Presidential Studies Quarterly, (March, 2002)
- Impeach-Bush-Now.org (http://www.impeach-bush-now.org/Articles/Bush/impeachable.htm) - 'Hiding Past and Present Presidencies: The Problems With Bush's Executive Order Burying Presidential Records', John Dean (November 9, 2001)
- MUOhio.edu (http://listserv.muohio.edu/SCRIPTS/WA.EXE?A2=ind0111a&L=archives&F=&S=&P=3914) - Draft Presidential Records Act Executive Order: A "Disaster" for History', Bruce Craig, National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History (November 1, 2001)
- Rense.com (http://www.rense.com/general16/nunder.htm) - 'Executive Order 13233 & The Undermining Of The US Constitution', Greg Burnham (November 8, 2001)
References
- Archives.gov (http://www.archives.gov/presidential_libraries/presidential_records/archivists_statement.html) - 'Statement by John W. Carlin Archivist of the United States to the Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial Management, and Intergovernmental Relations of the Committee on Government Reform House of Representatives Congress of the United States: On the Implementation and Effectiveness of the Presidential Records Act of 1978' (November 6, 2001)
- Archives.gov (http://www.archives.gov/presidential_libraries/presidential_records/complaint.txt) - American Historical Association, Hugh Davis Graham, Stanley I. Kutler, National Security Archive, Organization of American Historians, Public Citizen, Inc., and The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Plaintiffs, v. The National Archives and Records Administration, and John W. Carlin, Archivist of the United States, Defendants. Complaint for Declaratory, Injunctive and Mandamus Relief (November 28, 2001)
- FAS.org (http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2001/11/eo-pra.html) - 'Executive Order 13233 Further Implementation of the Presidential Records Act (text of EO 13233)
