The 180-degree reversal of Obama's State Secrets position

[Cliff Varnell]

It may be a tad early to start sharpening our pitch-forks and lighting our torches just yet.

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/...of_the.php

Officials decided that it would be imprudent to reverse course so abruptly because they realized they didn't yet have a full picture of the intelligence methods and secrets that underlay the privilege's assertions, because the privilege might correctly protect a state secret, and because the domino effect of retracting it could harm legitimate cases, both civil and criminal, that are already in progress...

...(M)any Obama administration legal experts believe that the privilege was recklessly abused during the past six years in particular, and that its application became political or punitive. To that end, Holder directed his staff to review all current assertions of privilege -- a review that won't be completed for several more weeks...

"These new officials at DOJ, because of their own past arguments, deserve the benefit of the doubt," said Ken Gude, a national security law specialist at the left-leaning Center for American Progress. "I can't imagine that the magic wand has risen over them in the two weeks they've been office, so that they'll say, 'we were wrong, and the Bush Administration was right.'"

"I completely agree with the decision," said William Weaver, a professor at the Unviersity of Texas at El Paso and a long-time critic of the privilege. "You can't unring the bell. Once this stuff is out and it's been released, then it's over."

The senior administration official said that the decision should not be interpreted as a definitive administration statement on accountability for the Bush Administration, or even for the five Mohamed detainees who were tortured.

"We all recognize that it's a very complex and sensitive dynamic, but whatever the answer, discovery in a piece of private litigation is not it. It might be the [Sen. Pat Leahy] truth commission idea, a DOJ truth commission, or even investigations run by the Justice Department. There will be a national clearing of the air," the official said.

"Whether people like it or not, it is going to take us some time to figure us out." a senior administration official said.

The pitchforks and torches may be called for yet, but I think a bit more patience with a 3-week old administration might be wise.