Open Government Initiative Scorecard
(as of 2/6/10)
(for the government-wide dashboard, click here)
Open Government Webpage
Public Consultation
Score:
Meets Expectations
Rationale:
DoD registered more than three high-value data sets in an open, machine-readable format by 21 January 2010. All data sets are registered on Data.gov, available for free download and include:
1. FEDERAL VOTING ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (12 DATA SETS)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
Summary and individual-record level data from six different surveys involving the DoD mission to assist military and other overseas citizens with voting in federal elections:
- A survey of military voters using or attempting to use the system (summary-level; detail-level)
- A survey of other American citizens aboard using or attempting to use the system (summary-level; detail-level)
- A survey of federal employee civilians aboard using or attempting to use the system (summary-level; detail-level)
- A survey of military voting assistance officers (summary-level; detail-level)
- A survey of local US voting officals (counties, cities, and similar) (summary-level; detail-level)
WHAT MAKES THIS A HIGH-VALUE DATASET?
DoD increased the transparency of the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) by posting raw data about the process by which members of the uniformed services and Merchant Marine, their eligible family members, and all citizens residing outside the United States can vote in all federal elections. Public analysis of this data may lead to a greater understanding of the challenges in administering an overseas voting system and lead to improvements making it easier for service members and others to participate in federal elections.
HOW IS THIS NEW?
Particularly the detail-level, individual record data was not previously released publicly, enabling users to undertake more involved and sophisticated queries and analyses using a multitude of data fields and characteristics.
2. DoD FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA) LOGS (Freedom of Information Logs)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
Log about FOIA requests processed by OSD / JCS during FY07 and FY08, including the following information for each record: Request ID; Requester Name; Organization; Received Date; Closed Date; Request Description
WHAT MAKES THIS A HIGH-VALUE DATASET?
The dataset provides valuable insight on the types of information being sought by members of the public from DoD under the FOIA process, making it a useful tool in understanding what DoD operations are of particular interest to the public.
HOW IS THIS NEW?
This data has not been previously released in a machine-readable format and this release will make it easier to analyze.
3. SERVICE MEMBER DEMOGRAPHIC DATA (3 DATA SETS)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION:
Three data sets showing subtotals and totals of service members by various demographics (service, age, gender, race, Reserve / Guard geographic distribution)
- Number of Service members by Age / Branch
- Number of Service members by Gender / Race / Branch
- Number of Reserve / Guard by their unit’s assigned State (assigned unit)
WHAT MAKES THIS A HIGH-VALUE DATASET?
This data creates transparency and enables analysis of the demographic characteristics of service members (although at a summary level to avoid any privacy concerns). A greater understanding of what types of individuals compose our fighting forces is important to attracting and retaining personnel and understanding manpower and staffing trends.
HOW IS THIS NEW?
Typically this information is usually released only upon a specific public request or through the FOIA process, and rarely if ever in machine readable format. (It is typically in narrative or PDF form).
CRITERIA: Spending Data Integrity
Score:
Meets Expectations
Rationale:
Mr. Mike McCord, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), has been desginated as our high-level senior official, accountable for the quality and objectivity of publicly-disseminated Federal (Defense) spending information. He is actively involved in implementation of the Open Government Directive/Initiative.
CRITERIA: Open Government Webpage
Score:
Meets Expectations
Rationale:
On 5 February 2010, the Department of Defense stood up its Open Government Webpage at http://www.defense.gov/open. In concert with the Open Government Directive, our Webpage serves as a portal where the public can download our high-value data sets, learn about new opportunities to provide public comment, provide input into our Open Government Plan and share ideas as to how we can become more transparent.
Score:
Meets Expectations
Rationale:
Like many other Federal Agencies, DoD is using the Ideascale template to build its Open Government Webpage. Our Open Government Webpage incorporates mechanisms(s) to accommodate public participation in general, and on specific products, for example, our Open Government Plan. In addition, we are encouraging broad employee engagement in a variety of internal and external working groups, e.g., DoD’s Open Government Webpage development and “Green Affinity Group” led by USDA, respectively.