FOIA 112120

 If America is ever able to rout this administration’s dictatorship of lies the country will have difficulty finding out its truths.  The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was passed to provide an accountability window into hidden government.  The act is available to any citizen but mostly utilized by journalist and scholars to discover what is really going on in government.    The United States’ government is supposedly an open government of the people.   Administrations have attempted to “stonewall” FOIA request preventing exposure of its governing blunders and waste but ultimately records become available.

Written records are considered factual and complete.  Therein lies the problem with this administration, not only does Trump lie, long and loud his appointees have falsified files to support his prevarications.  Trump has personally removed meeting notes so only his interpretations exist.  He has held meetings with the Putin without even an American translator present; there are no notes in U.S. files.  Since Trump’s lost, his appointees have been sanitizing official files and reportedly destroying some official records.  These records are supposed to be filed in the national archives for future research.

There is some hope for researchers finding accurate original information.  This is the age of copy machines, computer redundancy and video records Trump will never be able destroy all existing copies of compromising information.  Researchers however will be faced with sorting through contradicting copies of the same record.  They may find references to missing documents that could lead to criminal investigations of administration activities.

Since the election it appears that instead of a graceful transition Trump is engaged in a scorched earth effort to insure the country that rejected him is ungovernable.  Without accurate records of past agreements, contracts, deals or even conversations the next administration is highly vulnerable.  Its decision processes could be hostage to special interests’ interpretations of U.S. commitments. Nero fiddled while Rome burned, Trump will enjoy the show from his front nine.