President Bush Talks to Newspaper Editors on Transparency

Q: Mr. President, Tim Franklin from the Baltimore Sun. I know you'd be disappointed if you didn't get an FOI question
THE PRESIDENT: I thought you were going to ask about the, like the Oriole-National thing, you know. (Laughter.) The broadcast agreement or -- (laughter.)
Q: In processing FOI requests, should government officials presume that information should be given to citizens? Or should the burden fall on citizens to convince government to give them access to information?
THE PRESIDENT: That's an interesting way to put the question. Look, the presumption ought to be that citizens ought to know as much as possible about the government decision-making. Rich and I talked about this backstage a little bit, of course. He's constantly lobbying me. (Laughter.)
I know there is a tension now between making the decision of that which is -- that which can be exposed without jeopardizing the war on terror -- and I understand there's a suspicion that we -- we're too security-conscience [sic]. Let me refer you to the WMD report that -- the Silberman-Robb Commission -- as an example, however, of how I hope that we're becoming balanced between that which the public ought to know and that which, if we were to expose, would jeopardize our capacity to do our job, which is to defend America.
...And to answer your question, I believe in open government. I've always believed in open government. Rich is right. You know, I don't email, however. And there's a reason. I don't want you reading my personal stuff. There has got to be a certain sense of privacy. You know, you're entitled to how I make decisions. And you're entitled to ask questions, which I answer. I don't think you're entitled to be able to read my mail between my daughters and me.