Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 14. december 2005 / Time Line December 14, 2005
Version 3.513. December 2005, 15. December 2005
12/14/2005
New Bush Executive Order on FOIA Aims to Improve Government
Responsiveness; Impact on Transparency Unclear
Washington D.C., December 14, 2005 - The Bush administration's new
Executive Order on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051214-4.html
acknowledges that federal FOIA systems are currently in need of
great improvement and heightened responsiveness to members of the
public seeking information through the FOIA. Thomas S. Blanton,
executive director of the National Security Archive responded to
the new Executive Order by stating, "After five years of throwing
sand into the gears of the FOIA, the Bush administration is finally
designating someone at the agencies to be responsible for
compliance and performance. Now the question is: Will they have the
determination and the authority to implement any real changes in
the current ailing FOIA system?"
Archive General Counsel Meredith Fuchs noted, "Up until now this
administration has strongly resisted transparency and
accountability. We can only hope that this is a sign that it
intends to start being more responsive to the public."
The National Security Archive has extensively audited the
performance of the FOIA during the Bush administration and
published detailed reports on the depth of FOIA backlogs pending at
major federal agencies and the impact of Attorney General John
Ashcroft's October 2001 memo on the FOIA
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/foia/audits.htm.
The Archive found a system plagued by delay, inefficiency and
functioning in large part without high level official support for
the work of government FOIA personnel.
"We are hopeful this Executive Order will lead to greater concern
from senior agency officials for the FOIA. It remains uncertain how
it will be implemented and whether any actual processing changes
will result. One wonders if the administration is just trying to
preempt the growing bipartisan movement to strengthen the FOIA by
issuing a potentially weak Executive Order," commented Barbara
Elias, the Archive's freedom of information coordinator.
The Bush administration's new Executive Order on FOIA is available
here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051214-4.html
The Archive's FOIA audits are available here:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/foia/audits.htm
12/14/2005
U.S.-JAPAN RELATIONS DECLASSIFIED
New Web Publication Documents Secret History of Recent U.S.-Japan
Ties, 1977-1992
More Than 1,750 Former Secrets Obtained through the Freedom of
Information Act Cover the Carter, Reagan, Bush I
Administrations
For more information contact:
Dr. Robert Wampler - wampler@gwu.edu
http://www.nsarchive.org
Washington D.C., December 14, 2005 - Secretary of State James Baker
warned in 1991 that Japan's "bitter history" with the Koreas would
"inhibit policy coordination," even though "Japan has important
economic leverage on the North which the South will want to see
used effectively" - according to a declassified cable posted today
on the Web by the National Security Archive.
Marking the Web publication by ProQuest of the massive indexed
reference collection on U.S.-Japan relations from 1977-1992
compiled by the National Security Archive, today's posting
includes:
* Secretary of State James Baker cable to the Defense Department,
November 18, 1991, discussing problems with North Korea's nuclear
program and Japan's possible role in dealing with the crisis.
* Secretary of State George Shultz briefing memo to President
Ronald Reagan, prior to April 1987 visit of Prime Minister
Nakasone. The memo lays out the range of issues complicating
U.S.-Japan ties, and is a road map to understanding contemporary
relations.
* U.S. Ambassador Michael Armacost cable to the State Department,
March 14, 1991, on the impact of the Gulf War on U.S.-Japan
relations.
* Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger memorandum to President
Reagan, April 20, 1981, discussing ways to get past age-old
problems in persuading Japan to increase defense spending for the
sake of Western interests.
* Vice President Walter Mondale memorandum of conversation with
Prime Minister Fukuda, February 1, 1977, memorializing the Carter
administration's first official meeting with the Japanese premier,
at which fractious issues such as U.S. plans to lower troop levels
in South Korea, and relations with China and Taiwan were
discussed.
Comprising more than 1,750 documents and 8,000 pages obtained
through the Freedom of Information Act, this publication is the
most important collection of former secrets available on U.S. ties
with Japan during the Carter, Reagan, and Bush I presidencies.
During that critical period spanning the final phase of the Cold
War, the United States struggled to develop a new global strategy -
one that included Washington's most important Asian ally more
closely on central issues ranging from the Gulf War to nuclear
issues to trade and finance policies. The publication, Japan and
the United States: Diplomatic, Security, and Economic Relations,
Part II: 1977-1992, complements the first collection in this
series, which dealt with the period 1960-1976.
Also being published in the Digital Archive today is the Archive's
second collection on the Vietnam War, a groundbreaking compilation
based on the most recent declassifications of Nixon and Ford
administration documents, with detailed coverage of the Paris Peace
negotiations, the Vietnamization program, the war in Cambodia, the
1972 Christmas Bombing, and the fall of South Vietnam. Highlights
of the new Vietnam collection include:
* Kissinger-Thieu meeting transcripts, August 1972 (including
discussions in which Kissinger tells Thieu the U.S. will stand
aside while he invades North Vietnam)
* Nixon-Thieu memoranda of conversation
* Kissinger-Xuan Thuy transcript, Paris Aug. 4, 1969
* Planning documents for Operation PRUNING KNIFE (DUCK HOOK) from
1969, contemplating massive bombings of North Vietnam
* NSC meeting memoranda
* Histories of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Digital National Security Archive offers some 500,000 pages of
declassified U.S. government documents focusing on the most
controversial subjects of U.S. foreign policy. University libraries
and research institutes may subscribe by contacting
ProQuest/Chadwyck-Healey, at
http://www.proquest.com .
12/14/2005
Forsvaret indleder nu en undersøgelse af forholdene på
Varde kaserne. Det sker efter påstande om, at
værnepligtige blev opfordret til at tæske deres
talsmand og undervist i at omgå krigens love, skriver
Politiken.
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