OPEN GOVERNMENT — The nation's central clearinghouse for fighting (mostly federal) government secrecy is asking your help in scoring President Obama's fidelity so far to his early sunshine commitments. Patrice McDermott, who heads OpenTheGovernment.org, says,
As you know, each year we put out a Secrecy Report Card looking at the previous year in quantitative measures. As we all know, 2008 was the last year of the Bush Admin, so that info, while useful for record-keeping, is not really going to inform discussions going forward.
We are, therefore, going to have a section brief on the trends toward openness (and secrecy) in the Obama Administration. We have the data on state secrets invocation, and assertions of executive privilege the ugly. What we would appreciate from you is information with links to which we can point readers, please — in the following types of categories (the good and the bad):
We are, therefore, going to have a section brief on the trends toward openness (and secrecy) in the Obama Administration. We have the data on state secrets invocation, and assertions of executive privilege the ugly. What we would appreciate from you is information with links to which we can point readers, please — in the following types of categories (the good and the bad):
- Agencies re-reviewing FOIA requests and releasing (more) information
- Reviews of regulations and policies (e.g., environmental) that had hindered openness (and which provide greater openness)
- Releases of information other than through FOIA
- Withdrawn information (from agency websites, etc.)
Links to news stories will be fine.
We will not be able to respond to press questions about information we cannot verify so, if something is anecdotal, please let us know. And let us know if you would be willing to answer press inquiries.
If you could have the information to us by the end of next week (31 July), it would be very helpful. We are aiming to have the report released in early September.
