Cheney Sued to Expose Secrets

Citizens group asks judge to order his records preserved for public access
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 8, 2008 4:52 AM CDT
Cheney Sued to Expose Secrets
An advocacy group is suing to force Dick Cheney to preserve his archive of vice-presidential papers.    (AP Photo/Alexander Prokopenko, Pool)

A federal judge is being asked to prevent Dick Cheney from destroying or hiding what some believe are the administration's best kept secrets, reports the Washington Post. The advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics is calling for a court order to force the powerful vice president to preserve his papers for public access under the Presidential Records Act. The National Archives consider many VP records personal and not subject to the law.

"It horrifies me to think our government can operate in total secrecy—and then after the administration, remain in secrecy," said a history professor and plaintiff in the case. At stake is a mother lode of papers about national security, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, wiretapping and other issues that could remain beyond public reach if Cheney succeeds in blocking the move. Important documents may already have been destroyed that  "we don't know" about, said a law professor.
(More Dick Cheney stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X