Like Bush, Obama White House Chooses Secrecy for Key Office

May 15, 2009— -- President Obama's recent about-face to fight the release of photographs purportedly showing detainee abuse met with sharp protests from watchdogs and open-government advocates.

But it's not the first time the White House has acted at the expense of Obama's promise to run "the most transparent and accountable government in history."

A sweeping new Obama administration openness policy doesn't apply to a key White House office that supports most of Obama's key staff and advisers, administration officials confirm. Rather, the Obama White House has opted to retain a Bush-era policy that blocks information about those operations from public release.

Just weeks after taking office, the Obama administration adopted an unprecedented policy of sunlight, directing bureaucrats across government to "apply a presumption of openness" regarding the release of documents to the public, according to a memo by Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder.

But in keeping with his predecessor's position, Obama's policy does not cover an important part of the White House: the Office of Administration, which oversees much of the day-to-day functions of the president's own office and staff.

In 2007, then-president George W. Bush, whose penchant for secrecy was a reliable villain in Obama's campaign speeches, became the first president to declare the White House Office of Administration off-limits to public inquiries. At the time, Bush was engaged in a heated court battle with good government groups over access to information about a massive batch of missing White House e-mails.

A federal court ruled in favor of the Bush administration, agreeing that the office was not technically an "agency" as defined by FOIA, and was not required to abide by the openness law.

Today, the Obama White House Web site announces that the Office of Administration "is not subject to FOIA and related authorities." And that's just not good enough, say government watchdogs.