> I wonder if there were simply more leaks because there were more ...
No, Obama had a personal thing against leakers. None was too many for him. I followed it in the news, but couldn't tell if it was motivate by being a lawyer, so some kind of omerta.
OTOH, previous administrations used leaks as trial balloons, so had a more balanced approach.
Background on FOIA: Basically, in 1966 the US Government created the Freedom of Information Act that allowed people to ask for records from federal agencies. In theory, it was supposed to create transparency. Unfortunately, it's a bit outdated and in many areas it's turned into many in the Government thinking requestors are just out to get them (and a lot of it is also commercial requesters). Under Obama, the USG denied more requests than ever. In their defense though, it's got really easy to do a FOIA request online and flood the government with requests (it only applies at the federal level, states have their own version of public information laws).
The EPA used/uses fake email addresses to dodge FOIAs during the Obama and Trump administrations- guessing they all still do something like this. Scott Pruitt apparently has 4.
>During President Barack Obama’s first term, then-EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson came under fire for maintaining a separate agency email under the alias “Richard Windsor” — a name that derived from Jackson’s family dog when she lived in East Windsor Township, N.J.
Really? I'm not really a news junkie, but I can't recall a single time hearing anything about Obama having a dispute with anyone, whereas I've heard stories about Trump virtually every day for the last year. Maybe he's even worse than they say?
I fear Trump is doing grevious harm to our democracy, and would never compare the damage done by Trump to that done by Obama.
That said, Obama was notorious for his crackdown on leakers. If you at all kept up with the news then, you'd be aware. One of his darker qualities (though he had many positive ones as well).
No, Obama had a personal thing against leakers. None was too many for him. I followed it in the news, but couldn't tell if it was motivate by being a lawyer, so some kind of omerta.
OTOH, previous administrations used leaks as trial balloons, so had a more balanced approach.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/10/obama-leaks-ag...