Tag: secrecy

Trump Plots Potemkin Wall

The following article by Lou Dubose was posted on the Washington Spectator website September 28, 2017:

image: Edel Rodriguez

In January 2018, contractors working for the Department of Homeland Security will begin to fulfill what Donald Trump has promised: building “a big, beautiful wall” that will separate the United States of America from Los Estados Unidos de Mexico. The path of least resistance to breaking ground on the first segment of the controversial border barrier runs through the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge, 2,080 acres of richly biodiverse federal land on a meandering stretch of the Rio Grande in South Texas.

What has played out in South Texas over the past several months is a prelude to Donald Trump’s larger wall-building project, as the DHS and U.S. Customs and Border Protection play fast and loose with the rules, and muscle anyone who gets in their way. Continue reading “Trump Plots Potemkin Wall”

What does Trump have to hide? Secretive White House unapologetic about clawing back transparency

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch was posted on the Washington Post website April 17, 2017:

THE BIG IDEA: Donald Trump appears to have made a cynical calculation that he will not pay a high political price for being the most secretive president since Richard Nixon.

All the leaks about infighting among senior staff and the president’s proclivity for tweeting have created a false sense that the public knows what is happening inside his White House. In fact, the administration has gone to great lengths to conceal pertinent information from the American people.

After dodging questions on the subject for weeks, the administration waited until the afternoon of Good Friday to dump the news that it will not follow former president Barack Obama’s policy of voluntarily disclosing the names of most visitors to the White House complex. The president’s communications director cited “grave national security risks” as a justification, even though Obama had made an exception for national security. Continue reading “What does Trump have to hide? Secretive White House unapologetic about clawing back transparency”