Truth more important than the pain of discovery

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Ken Robinson | BIO
Former Special Operations and Intelligence officer

I am writing in response to David Gewirtz and his Open letter to President-elect Barack Obama on the White House email controversy. Mr. Gewirtz makes the argument that the computers located in the White House - including the Executive Office of the President, the West Wing, and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building - should be treated as a crime scene.

At first glance, the casual reader might consider this a laughable suggestion. I submit that this idea has merit. It may be the only unbiased opportunity that Americans will have to discover what people knew, and when they knew it, and what people said, and when they said it, regarding the divergence from International and Federal Law by the Bush Administration.

I have been involved in the business of intelligence and forensic auditing of computers during several tragic events in history. The first was attempting to discover who had directed and financed the massacre of 8,000 Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) at Srebrenica in July 1995.

Another example was my involvement in the forensic examination of millions of classified government files generated by President Clinton's Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illnesses (PAC).

Both these cases involved an enormous effort on the part of many men and women with on singular pursuit. Truth.

As awful as the prospects of this effort may be, finding out "the truth" is more important than the pain of discovery. It will bring Americans closer to the new beginning the Obama administration has promised.

I hope they are listening.

Editor's note: Ken Robinson is now working as a writer and executive producer in Hollywood.