THE MOST TRANSPARENT ADMINISTRATION IN HISTORY — FINALLY: Obama makes a push for transparency before handing over executive power to Trump.

President Obama is making a push for transparency in his last days in office before handing off the vast counter-terrorism apparatus he has built to President-elect Donald Trump, starting with a major address Tuesday defending his record on national security.

Obama’s speech, at the U.S. military’s Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla., will also explain the legal and policy underpinnings that his administration has established over eight years in deciding whether and how to detain, interrogate or kill suspected terrorists. The White House released some details on its legal rationale ahead of the speech.

The efforts at transparency were striking for an administration criticized for being secretive by news and watchdog organizations; Obama has used the Espionage Act more times than all other U.S. presidents combined to investigate leaks of government information. The bid for openness also served to make public additional facts that can be used to hold the Trump administration accountable, though the White House downplayed any message to the president-elect.

“It’s his final message to the nation on what he’s done and how he views these issues,” Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security advisor, told reporters before the president’s speech. “It’s something he would’ve done no matter who won the election.”

It’s something Obama could have done any time after his own election.