Uh oh -- lost Bush administration e-mails are recovered

News that millions of missing e-mail messages from the archives of the Bush administration have been recovered must have caused a lot of former officials' stomachs to drop in the nation's capital. Two nonprofit groups that had sued to recover the messages in 2007 announced Monday that 94 days of e-mail traffic between 2003 and 2005 would be reconstituted, according to Cable News Network (CNN). The e-mails, considered government property, are expected to reveal information on the firings of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006 and the 2003 disclosure of the identity of an undercover CIA agent married to former U.S. ambassador who was a critic of the Iraq war. The e-mails were requested by Congressional committees investigating the firings, which some alleged were politically motivated, but the Bush administration said they were missing. The groups Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the National Security Archive filed suit contending the Bush administration violated federal laws that require presidential records to be preserved. A federal investigation into the outing of former CIA agent Valerie Plame led to the conviction of a top administration official on perjury and obstruction of justice charges, but his sentence was commuted by former U.S. President George W. Bush. The question of whether former Vice President Dick Cheney was involved was never answered, but the answer could be in the missing e-mails. Of course, this being the federal government, it could be years before all of the messages are made public because of a disagreement over whether the release is required under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act or the Presidential Records Act, which allows records to be kept secret for up to 10 years after an administration leaves office.

Administration confirms commitment to democratic values

News out of Washington that the Obama administration had issued guidelines expanding the release of government records is a reassuring sign that the new American government is serious about reversing the damage of the Bush administration. The guidelines released Thursday by Attorney General Eric Holder are the practical application of President Barack Obama's Jan. 21 order expanding the reach of the Freedom of Information Act, which acknowledges the fundamental principle that the public owns what the government has and does. ''We are making a critical change that will restore the public's ability to access information in a timely manner,'' Holder said in a written statement, according to the Associated Press. The new rules basically restore the standard in effect under Attorney General Janet Reno when Bill Clinton was president, and reverse the Bush administration's presumption against releasing documents. Holder also said the administration would be reconsidering the Bush administration's refusal to turn over documents in civil lawsuits challenging the government's conduct in the war on terror, including jailing suspects indefinitely and domestic wiretapping, the AP said. Obama had given Holder until May to develop the guidelines but the government's quick release of them suggest that the change was under consideration well before Obama became president in January.