The President and the Attorney General have issued directives to all federal agencies calling on them to increase transparency across the government. The Attorney General called on OIP to provide guidance and training to agencies in the implementation of these enhanced transparency initiatives.
President Obama's FOIA Memorandum | Attorney General Holder"s FOIA Guidelines | President Obama's Transparency Initiative | DOJ's Open Government Plan | OIP's Efforts to Promote Transparency
Issued on his first full day in Office, President Obama’s FOIA Memorandum has a clear message: “In the face of doubt, openness prevails.” The President called on agencies to respond to FOIA requests in “a spirit of cooperation” and emphasized the need for timeliness, use of technology, and proactive disclosures in FOIA administration. The President directed the Attorney General to issue new guidelines governing the FOIA that reaffirm the government’s commitment to accountability and transparency.
Issued during Sunshine Week in March of 2009, the Attorney General’s FOIA Guidelines directed agencies to apply a presumption of openness in administering the FOIA and strongly encouraged agencies to make discretionary disclosures. The Guidelines also emphasized that FOIA is an agency-wide responsibility and highlighted the key roles played by both FOIA professionals and agency Chief FOIA Officers, who now must report each year to the Department of Justice. The Attorney General’s FOIA Guidelines also establish a new foreseeable harm standard. The Department “will defend a denial of a FOIA request only if (1) the agency reasonably foresees that disclosure would harm an interest protected by one of the statutory exemptions, or (2) disclosure is prohibited by law.”
Continuing the effort to create an unprecedented level of openness in government, President Obama directed the creation of an Open Government Directive to be issued by the Office of Management and Budget. This directive instructs agencies to take specific actions to ensure an open government based on three principles outlined by the President:
Government should be transparent
Government should be participatory
Government should be collaborative
You can read the full text of the President’s Transparency memo as well as learn more about the Open Government Initiative and the Open Government plans at different federal agencies on the White House’s Open Government site.
On June 25, 2010, the Department released its Open Government Plan version 1.1. The Plan emphasizes the special responsibility the Department of Justice has in open government given its guidance and oversight role in agency FOIA compliance.
You can see the flagship initiative for the Department's Open Government Plan version 1.1, the FOIA Dashboard, in action at FOIA.gov.
On April 9, 2012, the Department released its Open Government Plan version 2.0. This updated plan contains many additional initiatives to continue moving FOIA administration forward with improved utilization of technology, given the Department’s special responsibility in providing guidance and oversight for agency FOIA compliance.
In recognition of the Department’s leadership and policy-making role in FOIA, the Office of Information Policy is responsible for ensuring that the President’s FOIA Memorandum and the Attorney General’s FOIA Guidelines are fully implemented across the government. To carry out that responsibility OIP engages in a wide variety of initiatives to promote transparency across the government, including:
Melanie Ann Pustay |
Director |
Office of Information Policy |
(202) 514 - FOIA (3642) |