Version 1.1 of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Open Government Plan makes no substantive changes to the original plan published on April 7. It is notable that NARA published and updated an open government plan, despite not being required to by the President. The original plan largely meets the requirements of the Open Government Directive. The initial evaluation of the plan revealed several easy changes NARA could make to strengthen its plan, including adding links to datasets and correcting existing links. The majority of these easy changes are included in the updated version of the plan.

The plan would be further strengthened by a more thorough identification of stakeholders and their needs; while “researchers and the public” are a correct description of NARA stakeholders, the plan would be improved by recognizing the different interests and needs of subgroups (ie, genealogists, historians, students, teachers, etc.) The strength of the plan also suffers from the omission of basic requirements like a description of how NARA handles Congressional requests for information, declassification of their own material, and details as to how the agency is complying with existing transparency initiative guidance.

If you any think part of the agency's plan is impressive, or you have concrete suggestions on how the agency could improve its plan, please share your ideas with us using the form at the bottom of the page.