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White House Tape Recycling Possibly Erased Emails
Pojut points us to a Washington Post story which details the White House's admission that it routinely recycled backup tapes from 2001 to 2003, possibly destroying e-mail records from that time period. While the tapes are being analyzed to determine if any of the data can be recovered, the White House also indicated that some e-mail through 2005 may not have been preserved. We discussed the beginnings of this investigation a few months ago. From the Post:
"During the period in question, the Bush presidency faced some of its biggest controversies, including the Iraq war, the leak of former CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson's name and the CIA's destruction of interrogation videotapes. White House spokesman Tony Fratto said he has no reason to believe any e-mails were deliberately destroyed."
Not exactly. You're confusing the difference between "private" and "disclosure."
The public has no more right to know all internal communications of the President than they would to know all the internal communications of the Chief of Police. The status of "public servant" does not mean every communication is, or should be, publicly available. Additionally, the status of "public servant" does not somehow remove right to privacy of that person.
Secrecy is simply a matter of disclosure. The police don't announce where they will be conducting sting operations, do they? Of course not.
Your last sentence is truly detached from reality. The vast majority of conversations concerning future planning most certainly are NOT suitable for the public, especially those which involve other entities. Privacy is an inherent necessity of negotiations of any sort, no matter who is involved in them.
Non-accountability is primary on their agenda.
The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.