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Comment by hellllllllooo | Hacker News Reader

Can anyone explain the criteria for redaction and who gets to decide in this case? The DoJ? A brief skim through shows whole pages redacted.

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On the wall at the National Security Archive office down at George Washington University, we have a piece of White House email that was sent to Colin Powell when he worked in the White House. The two versions are almost mirror images in the sense that the top and bottom of one version are blacked out. The middle of the second version was blacked out. The top and bottom were released, and they were declassified 10 days apart. The punchline: it was the same reviewer both times. I called him up. His name was on the document. "What were you thinking?" I asked. And he says, "Well there was probably something in the Washington Post that was sensitive about Libya the first week, so I had to cut that paragraph out. But the next week it wasn't Libya, it was the Saudis or something, so I had to cut that paragraph out."

Absolutely not suprising. What's this from?

Google says https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-04-17/secrecy-subjective-wh...

It was redacted by U.S. Attorney General William Barr who reports to the President.

Who was hired after Trump fired the last AG for recusing himself from this investigation.

Grand Jury info, investigative methods, info relevant to ongoing investigations, and executive privilege, although Barr said there was no Exec privilege invoked for this report.

Redactions will fall into several categories, including material that is relating to ongoing investigations, material that relates to methods or sources, grand jury material, and items that concerns unindicted persons of interests.

I assume that relevant agencies redact anything that could possibly compromise their field agents, informants, etc.

Or protect the guilty.

While specific agencies may be consulted and influence what is redacted, the AG is the individual tasked with actually blacking it out

It is decided by Attorney General Barr, a Trump appointee that has repeatedly demonstrated improper behavior with regards to this investigation.

For this reason, lawsuits will immediately follow unless he provides spotless justifications for each redaction (behind closed doors).

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