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As a reporter who covers anti-terrorism efforts, it's my job to be skeptical of databases created by the Department of Homeland Security.
Another part of my job is to look through the Federal Register on a regular basis.
For those unfamiliar, it is the daily public notice of what decisions the executive branch is making or is planning to make.
It's informative, hilarious and packed with minutiae (including this little bit from Wednesday's edition about the size requirement for pearl onions from Idaho).
One of the other announcements Wednesday is that the DHS is creating "a new system of records entitled 'Oral History Program: The History of the Department of Homeland Security.'"
The Department has hired a "Departmental Historian who is developing a complete history of the department by conducting interviews with the individuals who participated in its creation and development."
This will include oral history interviews with "DHS employees and former employees, including political appointees, civilian, and military personnel assigned or detailed to the DHS, and other individuals who volunteer to be interviewed for the purpose of providing information for a history of DHS."
I can already name ten people whose interviews I'd love to read.
Of course, DHS will never let reporters near this stuff, though, right?
Wrong.
Routine uses include: "the news media and the public, unless it is determined that release of the specific information would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;"
Now the question is, will folks answer truthfully if they know the public and media can see their answers, and even if they do, will any truly revealing stuff survive the redactors in the FOIA office?
And by "revealing stuff" I am not just talking about where the bodies might be buried (note to current DHS readers -- that's both tongue-in-cheek and non-literal).
What I really want to read are some true stories about bureaucratic tangling over policy issues. From what I know and what I can accurately guess, that's where the true history really is.
Posted by Ryan Singel at September 22, 2004 11:46 PM
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