Promises, promises: A closed meeting on openness

[Jolie Rouge]

Promises, promises: A closed meeting on openness
By Sharon Theimer, Associated Press Writer
Sun Dec 6, 6:29 pm ET

WASHINGTON – It's hardly the image of transparency the Obama administration wants to project: A workshop on government openness is closed to the public.

The event Monday for federal employees is a fitting symbol of President Barack Obama's uneven record so far on the Freedom of Information Act, a big part of keeping his campaign promise to make his administration the most transparent ever. As Obama's first year in office ends, the government's actions when the public and press seek information are not yet matching up with the president's words.

"The Freedom of Information Act should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails," Obama told government offices on his first full day as president. "The government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears."

Obama scored points on his pledge by requiring the release of detailed information about $787 billion in economic stimulus spending. It's now available on a Web site, http://www.recovery.gov. Other notable disclosures include waivers that the White House has granted from Obama's conflict-of-interest rules and reports detailing Obama's and top appointees' personal finances.

Yet on some important issues, his administration produced information only after government watchdogs and reporters spent weeks or months pressing, in some cases suing.

Those include what cars people were buying using the $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program (it turned out the most frequent trades involved pickups for pickups with only slightly better gas mileage); how many times airplanes have collided with birds (a lot); whether lobbyists and donors meet with the Obama White House (they do); rules about the interrogation of terror suspects (the FBI and CIA disagreed over what was permitted); and who was speaking in private with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (he has close relationships with a cadre of Wall Street executives whose multibillion-dollar companies survived the economic crisis with his help).

The administration has refused to turn over important records. Obama signed a law that let the Pentagon refuse to release photographs showing U.S. troops abusing detainees, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates then did so. The Obama administration, like the Bush administration before it, has refused to release details about the CIA's "black site" rendition program. The Federal Aviation Administration wouldn't turn over letters and e-mails among FAA officials about reporters' efforts to learn more about planes that crash into birds.

Just last week, a State Department deputy assistant secretary, Llewellyn Hedgbeth, said at a public conference that "as much as we want to promote transparency," her agency will work just as hard to protect classified materials or information that would put the United States in a bad light.

People who routinely request government records said they don't see much progress on Obama's transparency pledge.

"It's either smoke and mirrors or it was done for the media," said Jeff Stachewicz, founder of Washington-based FOIA Group Inc., which files hundreds of requests every month across the government on behalf of companies, law firms and news organizations. "This administration, when it wants something done, there are no excuses. You just don't see a big movement toward transparency."

The San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group, said it filed 45 requests for records since Obama became president, and that agencies such as NASA and the Energy Department have been mostly cooperative in the spirit of Obama's promises. But the FBI and Justice Department? Not so much, said Nate Cardozo, working for the foundation on a project to expose new government surveillance technologies.

The FBI resisted turning over copies of reports to a White House intelligence oversight board about possible bureau legal violations. The FBI said it's so far behind reviewing other, unrelated requests that it can't turn over the reports until May 2014.

"This administration started with a bang, saying this was going to be a new day, and we had really high expectations," Cardozo said. "We haven't seen much of a change. The Justice Department said there would be a stronger presumption in favor of disclosure, but that hasn't been the case."

Obama has approved startup money for a new office taking part in Monday's closed conference, the Office of Government Information Services. It was created to resolve disputes involving people who ask for records and government agencies. But as evidenced by the open-records event behind closed doors, there is a long way to go.

"We'd like to know, when they're training agencies, are they telling them the same thing they're saying in public, that they're committed to making the Freedom of Information Act work well and make sure that agencies are releasing information whenever possible while protecting important issues like individual privacy and national security," said Rick Blum, coordinator of the Sunshine in Government Initiative, of which The Associated Press is a member.

The closed conference will provide tips for FOIA public liaisons on communicating and negotiating with people who make requests, and introduce the new Office of Government Information Services to them, said Melanie Ann Pustay, director of the Justice Department's Office of Information Policy, which takes the lead on government openness issues.

Pustay said she planned to say the same things at the private workshop that she would say publicly. She offered these reasons to explain why it was closed: She wanted government employees to be able to speak candidly, and the conference would be in an auditorium at the Commerce Department, where she said a government ID was required to be admitted. The AP and other news organizations routinely enter government buildings to cover the government.

Pustay said she is looking for ways to improve how the government responds to information requests, which costs roughly $400 million each year.

The director of the new Office of Government Information Services, Miriam Nisbet, said the event was closed to make sure there would be room for all the government employees attending.

"I can understand skepticism anytime a meeting for government people is not necessarily open to the public," Nisbet said. "However, everything that is discussed there is absolutely available for the public to know about."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091206/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_open_government


On the Net: Office of Government Information Services: http://www.archives.gov/ogis/

Obama memo on the Freedom of Information Act: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Freedom_of_Information_Act

Holder memo on FOIA: http://*******.com/ygbdxzp

[Jolie Rouge]

Fox Reporting $25 Mil No-Bid Contract Went to Dem Donor
By Tom Blumer
Mon, 01/25/2010 - 12:00 ET

I don't know why I'm relaying this to readers. After all, according to former White House Communications Director Anita "Mao Inspires Me" Dunn, it's not coming from a real news organization. Her successor, Dan Pfeiffer, agrees. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2010/01/19/new-white-house-comm-director-fox-news-not-traditional-news-organizati So does David Axelrod. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28417.html

But on the off chance that what follows might actually mean something, here is an excerpt from a lengthy piece of investigative journalism from Fox News's James Rosen
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/25/obama-administration-steers-lucrative-bid-contract-afghan-work-dem-donor/

Obama Administration Steers Lucrative No-Bid Contract for Afghan Work to Dem Donor

Despite President Obama's long history of criticizing the Bush administration for "sweetheart deals" with favored contractors, the Obama administration this month awarded a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to a company owned by a Democratic campaign contributor without entertaining competitive bids, Fox News has learned.

The contract, awarded on Jan. 4 to Checchi & Company Consulting, Inc., a Washington-based firm owned by economist and Democratic donor Vincent V. Checchi, will pay the firm $24,673,427 to provide "rule of law stabilization services" in war-torn Afghanistan.

.... The legality of the arrangement as a "sole source," or no-bid, contract was made possible by virtue of a waiver signed by the USAID administrator. "They cancelled the open bid on this when they came to power earlier this year," a source familiar with the federal contracting process told Fox News.

"That's kind of weird," said another source, who has worked on "rule of law" issues in both Afghanistan and Iraq, about the no-bid contract to Checchi & Company. "There's lots of companies and non-governmental organizations that do this sort of work."

.... Asked if he or his firm had been aware that the contract was awarded without competitive bids, Checchi replied: "After it was awarded to us, sure. Before, we had no idea."

.... Asked about the contract, USAID Acting Press Director Harry Edwards at first suggested his office would be too "busy" to comment on it. "I'll tell it to the people in Haiti," Edwards snapped when a Fox News reporter indicated the story would soon be made public. The USAID press office did not respond further.

.... As a candidate for president in 2008, then-Sen. Obama frequently derided the Bush administration for the awarding of federal contracts without competitive bidding.

"I will finally end the abuse of no-bid contracts once and for all," the senator told a Grand Rapids audience on Oct. 2. "The days of sweetheart deals for Halliburton will be over when I'm in the White House."

.... The records show Checchi has given at least $4,400 to Obama dating back to March 2007, close to the maximum amount allowed. The contractor has also made donations to various arms of the Democratic National Committee, to liberal activist groups like MoveOn.org and ActBlue, and to other party politicians like Sen. John F. Kerry, former presidential candidate John Edwards and former Connecticut Senate candidate Ned Lamont.

I seem to recall that the "sweetheart deals" for Halliburton were often sole-sourced because Halliburton was the only company that could credibly claim to have the capabilities required. Rosen's report indicates that this clearly isn't the case with the work awarded to Checchi (home page; "about" page; "scope of services" page).

So .... will the rest of the establishment press risk the tattered remnants of its credibility, follow the White House's suggestion, and ignore the story because it's coming from Fox? Stay tuned.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2010/01/25/fox-reporting-25-mil-no-bid-contract-went-dem-donor



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Obama promises to limit no-bid contracts
Says $40 billion could be saved every year
Associated Press and Globe Staff / March 5, 2009

WASHINGTON - President Obama ordered an overhaul yesterday of the way the US government awards defense and other contracts, saying that more competition is needed to drive down costs and declaring that "the days of giving government contractors a blank check are over."

Obama joined Senator John McCain, his Republican presidential campaign rival, and other congressional figures to promise taxpayers savings of as much as $40 billion a year, in part by limiting no-bid contracts.

Even in good economic times, contracting reform would be overdue in Washington, Obama said, but with the recession, "It's time for this waste and inefficiency to end. It's time for a government that only invests in what works."

The president announced an executive memorandum that directs his budget director, Peter Orszag, to work with Cabinet and agency officials to come up by July 1 with a way to review existing contracts for waste or fraud.

By the end of September, Orszag is to come up with new rules designed to make it more difficult for contractors to cheat taxpayers by strengthening oversight and ending unnecessary no-bid contracts and "cost-plus" contracts that allow price tags to escalate. The new rules would also make some half-trillion dollars in federal contracts each year more accessible to independent contractors.

"We will stop outsourcing services that should be performed by the government and open up the contracting process to small businesses," Obama said. "We will end unnecessary no-bid and cost-plus contracts that run up a bill that is paid by the American people. And we will strengthen oversight to maximize transparency and accountability."

The new administration argued that its Republican predecessor's spending on goods and services increased from $200 billion in 2000 to more than $500 billion in 2008.

"Far too often, the spending is plagued by massive cost overruns, outright fraud, and the absence of oversight and accountability," Obama said. "In some cases, contracts are awarded without competition; in others, contractors actually oversee other contractors."

Dozens of people have been charged with bribery and other contract fraud crimes as part of a Justice Department crackdown on contract and procurement fraud. Fraud has been particularly prevalent following the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, where billions of dollars was spent quickly and often with little oversight. More than 140 investigations are underway into allegations of contract fraud in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan.

Obama shared the stage with McCain, who at a White House "fiscal responsibility" summit last week highlighted the contracting problems by pointing out that the new fleet of presidential helicopters could cost as much as Air Force One.

Obama said he endorsed the goals of the bipartisan effort on defense procurement reform led by McCain and Democratic Senator Carl Levin. Obama said a study last year by the Government Accountability Office of 95 major defense acquisitions projects found cost overruns of 26 percent, totaling $295 billion over the life of the projects.

"In Iraq, too much money has been paid out for services that were never performed, buildings that were never completed, companies that skimmed off the top," Obama said. "At home, too many contractors have been allowed to get away with delay after delay after delay in developing unproven weapons systems."

Obama said that William Lynn III, the former Raytheon lobbyist who is now deputy defense secretary, will help lead the procurement reform in the Pentagon. McCain helped lead the opposition to Lynn, who had to receive a White House waiver from ethics rules and to pledge to recuse himself from decisions affecting the Waltham-based defense contractor to win confirmation.

The president pledged defense contracting reform "will be a priority for my administration."

"It's time to end the extra costs and long delays that are all too common in our defense contracting," Obama said. "We need to invest in technologies that are proven and cost-effective. We need more competition for contracts and more oversight as they're carried out. If a system isn't ready to be developed, we shouldn't pour resources into it. And if a system is plagued by cost overruns, it should be reformed."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/03/05/obama_promises_to_limit_no_bid_contracts/

[Jolie Rouge]

PROMISES, PROMISES: Skepticism on Obama tax credit
By Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 17 mins ago

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's push to create jobs includes a new tax credit for small businesses that add employees, an idea that fell flat in Congress last year and continues to have skeptics this year.

The idea has appeal as the nation struggles with an unemployment rate topping 10 percent. But House Democrats left out Obama's proposal when they passed a jobs bill in December because they didn't know how to target the credit effectively. The Obama administration still hasn't provided details on how the tax credit would work, and some tax experts question whether it would.

"It's very hard to know when a company is incrementally adding jobs because of a tax credit, and when they would have done it anyway," said Eugene Steuerle, a Treasury Department official in the Reagan administration who is now co-director of the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank. "I'm sympathetic to subsidizing low-wage jobs. It's just a question of how you design it."

Congressional researchers say a tax credit for firms that increase payroll could be a good way to increase employment, if the credit is available to all companies, not just small businesses. They cautioned, however, that it would be difficult to administer.

Among the issues raised by tax experts:

_How would the government prevent abuse by companies that artificially increase payroll?

_How would new companies be treated?

_How would a firm be prevented from disbanding and reopening under another name just to claim the credit?

_How would the government ensure firms add long-term employees when the credit is only for a year or two?

_Would firms be willing to add workers to get a tax credit when consumer demand for their products has not increased?

Clint Stretch, a tax policy expert at Deloitte Tax, said the tax break would help companies that shed jobs last year and were ready to start rehiring this year.

"Guys who were ruthless and threw people out on the street will benefit while those who kept their workers will not," Stretch said.

The Obama administration renewed its focus on job creation last week and the president called on Congress to pass a jobs bill that provides "tax breaks to small businesses for hiring people."

Obama first proposed the tax credit late last year, but House Democrats didn't include it in a jobs bill they passed in December. The bill is awaiting action in the Senate. Aides said Obama will focus on job creation in his State of the Union address Wednesday.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently analyzed several proposals to create jobs and improve the economy, and concluded that a payroll tax credit for firms that increase payroll would be among the most effective. However, the analysis said limiting the credit to small businesses would reduce the economic benefits.

Congress enacted a similar tax credit in the 1970s and few small businesses took advantage, the CBO report said.

Two economists have been promoting a job creation tax credit for the past several months: John H. Bishop, a professor at Cornell University, and Timothy J. Bartik, senior economist at the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Michigan.

Under their proposal, businesses that increase their payrolls by more than 3 percent over 2009 levels would get tax credits worth 15 percent of the increase. The tax credit would only apply to the first $50,000 of a worker's salary, capping the amount at $7,500 per worker.

Big and small employers would be eligible, and the credit would be available for existing workers who get raises or more hours, as long as payroll is increased for employees making less than $50,000. The tax credits would be refundable, meaning employers would get them as payments, even if they don't owe any taxes.

Bishop said companies that hire workers, increase hours or increase wages would all be helping the economy.

"We're trying to find a way to lower the cost of adding labor," Bishop said. "The job creation tax credit has the highest bang for buck."

Two senators, noting the "lukewarm" response to Obama's proposal in Congress, have come up with a plan for a payroll tax credit for businesses that hire workers who have been unemployed at least 60 days.

The proposal, by Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, would exempt businesses from paying the employers' share of Social Security taxes on those workers for the rest of 2010. The plan would save companies 6.2 percent of the workers' salaries that are subject to Social Security taxes.

The money would be repaid to Social Security over the next five years from unspecified budget savings.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100126/ap_on_bi_ge/us_jobs_tax_credit

[Jolie Rouge]

PROMISES, PROMISES: Is gov't more open with Obama?
Sharon Theimer, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 42 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Federal agencies haven't lived up to President Barack Obama's promise of a more open government, increasing their use of legal exemptions to keep records secret during his first year in office.

An Associated Press review of Freedom of Information Act reports filed by 17 major agencies found that the use of nearly every one of the law's nine exemptions to withhold information from the public rose in fiscal year 2009, which ended last October.

Among the most frequently used exemptions: one that lets the government hide records that detail its internal decision-making. Obama specifically directed agencies to stop using that exemption so frequently, but that directive appears to have been widely ignored.

Major agencies cited that exemption at least 70,779 times during the 2009 budget year, up from 47,395 times during President George W. Bush's final full budget year, according to annual FOIA reports filed by federal agencies. Obama was president for nine months in the 2009 period.

Departments used the exemption more even though Obama's Justice Department told agencies to that disclosing such records was "fully consistent with the purpose of the FOIA," a law intended to keep government accountable to the public.

For example, the Federal Aviation Administration cited the exemption in refusing the AP's FOIA request for internal memos on its decisions about a database showing incidents in which airplanes and birds collided. The FAA initially tried to withhold the bird-strike database from the public, but later released it under pressure.

The FAA claimed the same exemption to hold back nearly all records on its approval of an Air Force One flyover of New York City for publicity shots — a flight that prompted fears in the city of a Sept. 11-style attack. It also withheld internal communications during the aftermath of the public relations gaffe.

In all, major agencies cited that or other FOIA exemptions to refuse information at least 466,872 times in budget year 2009, compared with 312,683 times the previous year, the review found. Agencies often cite more than one exemption when withholding part or all of the material sought in an open-records request.

All told, the 17 agencies reviewed by AP reported getting 444,924 FOIA requests in fiscal 2009, compared with 493,610 in fiscal 2008.

The AP examined the 2008 and 2009 budget year FOIA reports from the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury and Veterans Affairs; the Environmental Protection Agency; and the Federal Reserve Board.

Other FOIA exemptions cover information on national defense and foreign relations, internal agency rules and practices, trade secrets, personal privacy, law enforcement proceedings, supervision of financial institutions and geological information on wells.

One, known as Exemption 3, covers dozens of types of information that Congress shielded from disclosure when passing other laws.

In sentences that are often vaguely worded and buried deep in legislation, Congress has granted a wide array of information special protection over the years: information related to grand jury investigations, the additives in cigarettes, juvenile arrest records, the identities of people applying restricted-use pesticides to their crops, and the locations of historically significant caves are a sampling of the broad range of information the public cannot get under FOIA.

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., was so concerned about what he called "exemption creep" that last year he successfully pressed for a new law that requires FOIA exemptions to be "clear and unambiguous."

The federal government cited Exemption 3 protections to withhold information at least 14,442 times in the last budget year, compared with at least 13,599 in the previous one, agency FOIA reports show.

The prolific use of FOIA exemptions is one measure of how far the federal government has yet to go to carry out Obama's promise of openness. His first full day in office, Obama told agencies the Freedom of Information Act, "which encourages accountability through transparency, is the most prominent expression of a profound national commitment to ensuring an open government."

Obama told agencies they shouldn't hide information merely because it might make them look bad. "The presumption of disclosure should be applied to all decisions involving FOIA," Obama wrote.

Following up on Obama's words, the Justice Department advised agencies against withholding records sought under FOIA "merely because an exemption legally applies." Most recently, the White House encouraged agency officials to hold contests, complete with prizes, to encourage employees to promote open government.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and White House Counsel Bob Bauer called on agency heads Tuesday to improve their handling of FOIA requests and assess whether they are devoting the resources needed to respond to requests "promptly and cooperatively."

Describing the Justice Department's actions on FOIA on Monday at the start of Sunshine Week, when news organizations promote open government and freedom of information, Attorney General Eric Holder said his agency is making progress. He noted that Justice provided everything sought in a FOIA request in more than 1,000 more cases than it had the previous year.

"Put simply, I asked that we make openness the default, not the exception. Today, I'm pleased to report that the disturbing 2008 trend — a reduction in this department's rate of disclosures — has been completely reversed," Holder said. "While we aren't where we need to be just yet, we're certainly on the right path."

Much of the Obama administration's early effort on FOIA seems to have been aimed at clearing out a backlog of old cases: The number of requests still sitting around past the time limits spelled out in the open-records law fell from 124,019 in budget year 2008 to 67,764 at the end of the most recent budget year over the 17 agencies, the AP's review found. There is no way to tell whether those whose old cases that were closed ultimately received the information they sought.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100316/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_sunshine_open_government;_ylt=AuvBOZxNVDPb7R3Y_ MUJyA67e8UF;_ylu=X3oDMTNncGQ1MGVuBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwM TAwMzE2L3VzX3N1bnNoaW5lX29wZW5fZ292ZXJubWVudARjY29 kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzQEcG9zAzQEc2VjA3luX3Rvc F9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNwcm9taXNlc3Byb20-


On the Net: Freedom of Information Act: http://www.justice.gov/oip/04_7.html

[Jolie Rouge]

AP analysis of Obama FOIA record at a glance
The Associated Press – Tue Mar 16, 3:23 am ET

To mark Sunshine Week, when news organizations promote open government and freedom of information, The Associated Press reviewed annual Freedom of Information Act reports filed by 17 agencies.

The review included the 2008 and 2009 budget year FOIA reports from the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury and Veterans Affairs; the Environmental Protection Agency; and the Federal Reserve Board. Among the findings:

_ The government's use of nearly every one of nine major FOIA exemptions to withhold part or all the information sought in requests rose in fiscal 2009, President Barack Obama's first fiscal year in office, compared with budget year 2008.

_ In all, the agencies reviewed by the AP reported getting 444,924 FOIA requests in fiscal 2009, compared with 493,610 in fiscal 2008. Besides those cases, they started each year with FOIA requests pending: 145,162 as the 2009 budget year began last October; 156,611 as the 2008 fiscal period started.

_ The agencies processed 501,158 FOIA requests in the 2009 period, compared with 504,110 the previous year.

_ Much of the Obama administration's early effort on FOIA seems to have been aimed at clearing out the backlog of old cases: The number of requests still sitting around past the time limits spelled out in the open-records law fell from 124,019 in budget year 2008 to 67,764 at the end of the most recent budget year over the 17 agencies, the AP's review found. There is no way to tell whether those whose old cases were closed ultimately received the information they wanted.

_ The agencies reviewed provided everything sought in FOIA requests in at least 162,205 cases last fiscal year, compared with 196,776 the previous year.

_ They granted FOIA fee waiver requests 4,333 times and denied them 2,472 times in the most recent fiscal year. In budget year 2008, they granted them 3,693 times and refused them 2,590 times. Those figures exclude the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which didn't track fee waiver requests.

_ They denied FOIA requests in their entirety based on exemptions 20,005 times last fiscal year, compared with 21,057 times the previous year.

____

On the Net: Freedom of Information Act annual reports: http://www.justice.gov/oip/04_6.html


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_sunshine_open_government_glance;_ylt=AsbZ0XaGI2 .8hmT1R1yxsS6WwvIE;_ylu=X3oDMTE2djhqNnF2BHBvcwMxBH NlYwN5bi1yLWItbGVmdARzbGsDLWFuYWx5c2lzb2Zv

[Jolie Rouge]

Hahahahahahaha: DOJ unveils “Plan for Open Government”
Ow. Can’t breathe. Stomach hurting from howling.
Check out the DOJ’s announcement today trumpeting AG Eric Holder’s new “Plan for Open Government.”

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Our Plan for Open Government
April 7th, 2010 Posted by Tracy Russo

http://blogs.usdoj.gov/blog/archives/682

Today, the Department of Justice is proud to release our Plan for Open Government. Our plan sets forth ongoing and anticipated efforts to increase transparency in government, participation and collaboration. We believe these initiatives will have a lasting impact, permanently breaking down barriers between the American people and their government.

Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli commented on the plan’s release:


“We are committed to creating the most open and transparent Department of Justice in history. The steps outlined in our Open Government Plan are the product of participation from throughout the Department and with the public. These efforts will improve the public’s understanding of what the Department does, provide information in more accessible form, and continue our increased collaboration with our many partners and the public.”


Our plan is tied to our core missions, which are to:


prevent terrorism and promote national security
ensure the fair and efficient administration of justice
prevent crime, enforce federal laws
and represent the rights and interest of the American people

The Department of Justice has long had a special responsibility for open government because of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The Freedom of Information Act is a key tool for transparency in government. It is often through the FOIA that the public learns what the government is doing and holds the government accountable for its decisions and actions.

While the FOIA imposes openness obligations on all Executive Branch agencies, it imposes unique responsibilities on the Department. Federal law requires the Department to provide guidance to other agencies on FOIA related issues and requires the Department to collect information on FOIA compliance from across the government. The Department takes its roles under the FOIA seriously.

For this reason, we’ve made increasing the ease of public access to FOIA information, through the creation of a FOIA Dashboard, our flagship initiative.

The FOIA Dashboard will apply the principles of transparency and openness to the administration of the FOIA itself, allowing the public to easily track information about FOIA compliance. The Dashboard will allow the public to generate statistics on FOIA compliance across the government and from year to year. Not only will this visual report card promote transparency, it should also have the effect of encouraging the Department’s FOIA offices – and FOIA offices across the government – to improve their compliance efforts and release as much information to the public under FOIA as possible.

Our plan outlines a number of additional steps we’ll be taking to open up the Department. Some of these steps we’ll begin implementing immediately. For instance:

We will begin to regularly make significant court filings readily available on our Web site as they are filed. This will allow Americans can review the documents themselves and gain a full understanding of the Department’s actions.

Each month, the Department will post the daily calendar of the Attorney General so that his meetings and activities will be readily accessible by the public. Redactions will be kept to a minimum, consistent with the principles laid out in the Attorney General’s FOIA Guidelines. While there will always be aspects of the Attorney General’s responsibilities that cannot be disclosed publicly, lest they compromise important national security, law enforcement or litigation interests, there is much that can, and should be, disclosed.

The Department publishes numerous reports on scores of law enforcement related issues every year. Those reports are of high quality and often draw important conclusions from their data. It is important to recognize, however, that other researchers may use the same data to draw insightful conclusions that improve law enforcement or otherwise benefit the public. In order to facilitate such efforts, when an office or division of the Department publishes a report that summarizes quantitative data that the office or division has collected, there shall be a presumption that the office or division will also make the underlying data available through an appropriate channel.

We’ve outlined many more examples of ways we intend to be more transparent, participatory and collaborative throughout our plan. We hope you’ll take time to read the plan and let us know what you think. You can send us your thoughts via e-mail at opengov@usdoj.gov.

POSTED IN: Office of the Associate Attorney General | PERMALINK