[Infowarrior] - Most transparent ..... obfuscation

[Richard Forno]

Court Says USTR Can Continue To Keep The Public From Seeing The Trade Agreements They'll Be Subjected To

from the our-national-security-depends-on-it,-apparently dept

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151001/08102632406/court-says-ustr-can-continue-to-keep-public-seeing-trade-agreements-theyll-be-subjected-to.shtml

Towards the end of 2013, IP-Watch -- along with the Yale Media Freedom and Access Center -- filed a FOIA lawsuit against the USTR for its refusal to release its TPP draft documents. The USTR spent a year ignoring IP-Watch's William New's request before telling him the release of draft agreements would "harm national security." 

What trade agreements have to do with "national security" is anyone's guess (especially since the USTR has cloaked the entire TPP proceedings in opacity), but the conclusion being drawn by this refusal is that the USTR feels the public has no right to know about trade agreements that affect the public.

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That being said, the court still won't be ordering the USTR to release draft TPP documents. The only thing it has done is order the agency to present documents explaining its withholding of certain communications under two FOIA exemptions. The bulk of the trade agreements will remain hidden away from the public -- this time with the court's blessing and thanks to the administration's advocacy on behalf of continued opacity.

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