ABSTRACT
On November 1, 2001, Bush issued Executive Order 13233 overriding the 1978 Presidential Records Act. As with his Clean Skies Act, Bush's executive order was named for what it was not-the "Further Implementation of the Presidential Records Act". Adding to the movement toward stealth, Attorney General John Ashcroft in fall 2001 told federal agencies that they would be vigorously defended when they withheld records requested under the Freedom of Information Act. Meanwhile, the General Accounting Office (GAO) was seeking to force the White House to disclose information about meetings held by Cheney with industry executives in 2001 before he recommended an energy strategy focused on the opening of environmentally sensitive lands to oil and gas drilling. The year 2001 also saw the energy wholesaler Enron tank and declare bankruptcy. Enron, too, had thrived on secrecy. The Veep admitted that, as head of the Bush administration's energy task force, he had met several times with Enron's Ken Lay.
