Barack Obama wants to create a task force that will have 90 days to review how the government can be more open and transparent without compromising security, reports the Washington Post’s Carrie Johnson. That sounds fine, but it doesn’t address the most pressing secrecy issue facing the White House. Here is a report from Johnson Tuesday:

The Obama administration has invoked the state-secrets privilege in resisting a lawsuit filed by an Oregon charity whose attorneys may have been subjected to warrantless wiretapping. Late Friday, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker issued a terse order that raised the prospect of "sanctions" for government lawyers who have not responded to his order for a plan for how the case should proceed. The sanctions may include awarding monetary damages to the charity, the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation.

The document amounts to "Judge Walker’s enough-is-enough order," said Jon Eisenberg, an attorney for the now-defunct charity.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the judge’s order, which requires the government to respond in court by Friday.

So is the Obama administration going to respond by tomorrow? Or will they use the task force announcement as evidence they are still reviewing the issue? More review shouldn’t be necessary to just return invocation of state secrets to the limited use it had before George W. Bush. And it would be a little arrogant if the administration flouts the judge’s order and says they can proceed with the case when they see fit.-MB

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