On May 23, 2012, the White House released the Federal Digital Strategy that outlined the use of “modern tools and technologies to seize the digital opportunity and fundamentally change how the Federal Government serves both its internal and external customers–building a 21st century platform to better serve the American People.” That means making sure information and services are easily accessible on the internet anytime, anywhere, and on any device. It means you will be able to find and share information that is important to you, your family and your community.

In the past few years, the Department of Justice has taken many steps to make the department’s information more available and accessible. We’ve added hundreds of data sets to data.gov, have begun using social media to bring information directly to you, and added more information to our website than ever before. But we know we can do more. As we begin to formulate our digital strategy, we want your input on which information and services you’d like us to prioritize and make more tech and mobile-friendly. There are two areas where we’d like your input:

• What Justice Department information would you like to be able to access on mobile devices?
• What Justice Department information, data, or applications would you like to us make available via APIs (Applied Programming Interface)?

Send us your thoughts on digital strategy at opengov@usdoj.gov.

We’ve come up with a few possibilities for each area. You can see the list on our Digital Strategy web page, justice.gov/digitalstrategy.

We welcome your feedback on the possible candidates for improvement, or other opportunities we may have overlooked. Your feedback, combined with other internal and external conversations, will guide our digital plan in the coming months and years.

Read more about how we are participating in the Digital Government Strategy and Open Government at our website.

As a part of his 2009 FOIA Guidelines, Attorney General Holder directed the Chief FOIA Officers at each agency to review “all aspects of their agencies’ FOIA administration” and to report annually to the Justice Department on the steps taken “improve FOIA operations and facilitate information disclosure.”  These “Chief FOIA Officer Reports” provide descriptions of the steps agencies have taken to improve FOIA administration and serve as a complement to the agencies’ Annual FOIA Reports, which contain detailed statistics on the numbers of requests received and processed during the preceding fiscal year.

Last year, the Office of Information Policy (OIP) conducted an assessment of the progress made in FOIA administration by the fifteen executive departments.  OIP identified metrics for assessment, such as improvements to efficiency and reduction in backlogs, and then used data from both agency Annual FOIA Reports and Chief FOIA Officer Reports to score the agencies on their progress in those areas.   

For 2012, we have expanded the assessment to include all ninety-nine agencies subject to the FOIA in fiscal year 2011. We also have changed several of the metrics, taking into account the progress that has already been made in implementing the FOIA Guidelines to make the assessment progressively more challenging.   

For 2012, we have also prepared a narrative to accompany the assessment. The narrative provides a wealth of examples from large and small agencies of the improvements that have been made to help improve the FOIA process.   Lastly, OIP has included guidance to agencies to assist them in making additional improvements in the years ahead.

The 2012 assessment provides a “visual snapshot” of agency activities in five key areas, specifically:

• applying the presumption of openness,
• increasing efficiencies,
• making information available proactively,
• using technology, and
• reducing backlogs and improving timeliness. 

The assessment is meant to “readily [illustrate] the many areas where agencies have made real progress and also serves to highlight the areas where further improvement can be made.”  Notably, our review found that:

“Agencies continue to make concrete progress in implementing the President’s FOIA Memorandum and the Attorney General’s FOIA Guidelines.  The 2012 assessment shows that agencies are applying the presumption of openness, are taking steps to ensure that they have effective systems in place for responding to requests, are increasing both the content on their websites and its usability, and are offering requesters the opportunity to submit requests electronically.”

At the same time, the assessment shows that there are areas where further improvements can be made.  For example, while sixty-six agencies either had no backlog of pending requests or were able to reduce an existing backlog, there were others whose backlogs increased.  Similarly, while sixty-eight agencies closed all of their ten oldest pending requests, or had none pending to close, there were others who did not meet this milestone.

By assessing agencies on a wide variety of factors that all contribute to improving information disclosure, the public, as well as the agencies themselves, can readily see where agencies have excelled, and where further work can still be done, in improving the administration of the FOIA.

You can access the 2012 Chief FOIA Officer Report Summary and Assessment, along with summaries from previous years, success stories from the Chief FOIA Officer Reports, and the reports themselves on our reports page.

Success of the Department’s mission depends on accurate communication with members of the public, regardless of their level of English proficiency.

The Justice Department released revised policies that will enhance the ability to communicate effectively with limited English proficient (LEP) individuals.  The release of the revised Departmental Language Access Plan is the latest in a series of steps taken to recommit the department to the language access principles of Executive Order 13166. 

Over the last sixteen months, the Civil Rights Division and the Justice Management Division led an internal Language Access Working Group focused on identifying and overcoming language barriers in department programs and activities.  The working group, consisting of representatives from each department component, was tasked by Attorney General Holder to create and implement language access plans for each component, including a department-wide plan. 

The Federal Coordination and Compliance Section of the Civil Rights Division, which is charged with government-wide enforcement of Executive Order 13166, assisted each component with assessing its ability to provide meaningful access to LEP individuals and drafted policies and plans to enhance their ability to communicate effectively with LEP individuals.  In fact, thirty-one department agencies have created language access plans or policy statements.

Many of these language access plans and documents will be posted online in the coming weeks.

Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division noted the department’s progress:

“The department’s language access plan is a big step towards ensuring equal access to all individuals. We welcome feedback and will continue to engage the LEP community and other stakeholders to help ensure that the policies are implemented in a manner consistent with department principles.”

Lee Lofthus, the Assistant Attorney General for Administration also commented on the language access plans:

 “I am pleased with the progress we’ve made in our ability to work more effectively with the LEP community. We will continue to look for efficient and effective ways to enhance our efforts in this important area.”

Feedback will inform the working group and individual components as they establish protocols and procedures to implement the department plans. Please submit your comments to DOJLAWG@usdoj.gov .

The department will continue to support cost-saving or cost-sharing initiatives aimed at maximizing Department resources.  We believe that the key to overcoming language barriers is finding practical and cost-effective systems to deliver high-quality language assistance services.

For more information, or to view the department’s language access plans, visit: http://www.justice.gov/open/language-access.html

The following post appears courtesy of Mary Lou Leary, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) is committed to providing timely and accurate information about OJP’s policies, programs, activities and procedures to a wide public audience – organizations and individuals.   Highlighting a few of these efforts during this year’s Sunshine Week gives us an opportunity to share our work with those new to our efforts and to encourage those familiar with OJP resources to use them in new ways.

In our support of state, local and tribal partners we are mindful of our responsibilities as stewards of federal funds.  We must ensure that the process for soliciting and awarding grants is transparent and fair.  Solicitations are posted for 45 days on both the OJP website and on Grants.gov. and provide clear descriptions of purpose, eligibility and evaluation criteria.  A peer review process is structured to reduce bias and help ensure objectivity. OJP’s Office of Audit Assessment and Management and Office of the Chief Financial Officer provide rigorous oversight of all grant-making activities.

Award announcements are posted on ojp.gov along with the names of grant recipients. We work closely with grantees to help them meet their responsibilities. We provide training and technical assistance on the proper use and reporting of grant funds, reflecting the importance of supporting our partners in the field.

As we continue our support to state, local and tribal partners, we strive to develop innovative ways of allowing them to access information directly.  One example is CrimeSolutions.gov., an online resource for practitioners about effective programs in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services. The site provides detailed information on more than 170 programs, with three rating categories – “effective,” “promising,” and showing “no effects.”  Programs can be searched by keyword, topic or advanced search.  Or, it is easy to browse all programs.

In the near future, OJP will launch a new resource called the OJP Diagnostic Center. This will be a “one-stop” crime consultation service to state, local, and tribal policymakers, who are looking to identify and implement evidence-based public safety strategies.  It will help assess community strengths and challenges and match those with evidence-based interventions. With this tool, we’re trying to address large, strategic challenges that can really make a long-term difference in communities.  The Diagnostic Center has the potential to be a transformative tool for communities in addressing their public safety challenges.

OJP will continue to provide updated information and resources for those interested in our grants, programs or initiatives, and I encourage frequent visits to our website at www.ojp.gov.

Congress passed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in 1966 to give people access to government information and charged the executive branch with the important responsibility of administering the law. The Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy oversees agency compliance with the FOIA and encourages all agencies to fully comply with both the letter and the spirit of the law.

As a result, all agencies are required to report to the Department of Justice on their FOIA compliance through the submission of Annual FOIA Reports. Annual FOIA reports contain detailed statistics about an agency’s FOIA performance throughout the year.

In 2009, as a part of his FOIA Guidelines, Attorney General Eric Holder asked agencies to go beyond the numbers. He highlighted the important role played by the Chief FOIA Officers (CFOs) at each federal agency and called on them to review the administration of the FOIA at their agency and report on their efforts to improve FOIA operations.

These Chief FOIA Officer reports allow agencies to outline and describe the wide variety of concrete steps undertaken to implement the Attorney General’s Guidelines, many of which are unquantifiable through the statistical annual reporting.  They have become a vital tool for assessing the varied and continued strides that agencies are making in improving FOIA operations across the government.

Agencies are institutionalizing the presumption of openness through training and outreach. They are overhauling their FOIA systems from the ground up and embracing technology both in the processing of records and in the release of information. They are developing apps and allowing requesters to submit and track requests online.  In short, they are making the FOIA better.

The 2012 Chief FOIA Officer Reports demonstrate that agencies have continued the hard work of the past two years and are building upon the foundation of the Attorney General’s FOIA Guidelines to promote greater transparency and FOIA efficiency at their agencies.  These efforts include:

• The Economic Research Service at the Department of Agriculture published its Atlas of Rural and Small-Town America, an innovative online mapping tool that provides county-level statistical data on the people, jobs, agriculture, and characteristics of counties across the United States.  The Atlas is relied upon by policymakers and members of the public with the need for data on population, age structure, race and ethnicity, income, employment, agricultural well-being, and other statistical information.
• The Department of the Treasury conducted a Six Sigma review of its FOIA administration to eliminate redundancies and inefficiencies in its process.
• The Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families installed a live chat feature on its website through which users can engage with an Information Specialist who will assist with questions, concerns, or trouble locating agency information.

These are just a small fraction of the dynamic range of success stories reported by agencies in their 2012 Chief FOIA Officer Reports. 

The Office of Information Policy has compiled a selection of these successes from across federal departments.  We also encourage you to read about the many transparency initiatives by viewing the 2012 Chief FOIA Officer Reports from all federal departments and agencies. You can find them on our Reports page.

For more information please visit the Office of Information Policy and FOIA.gov

The following post appears courtesy of the FBI.

The Vault at FBI.gov

This week the FBI and the Department of Justice are celebrating Sunshine Week—a national effort promoting open government and freedom of information. The FBI has introduced new tools and initiatives to help make FBI information and records more accessible to the public and easier than ever to use.

In October 2010, in response to citizen feedback, the FBI launched a major overhaul of its website FBI.gov.  The new FBI.gov features a user-friendly design and simple navigation. New pages and features have also been added.

Many pages can now be converted into RSS news feeds so you can easily keep track of content that interests you. A new search function in the popular Wanted by the FBI section makes it easier than ever to help find fugitives and missing persons. Another new tool, an online version of the National Stolen Art File can help determine if the artwork you’re interested in buying might be stolen.

 Other new and ongoing initiatives include:

•  The Vault – A revamped electronic reading room, the Vault makes records past and present searchable by keyword and topic. Records are also easier to read through a convenient web document viewer.
• Crime Statistics – Run searches of Uniform Crime Reports more easily, including through a new online tool that builds usable sets of crime data going back to 1960.
• Child ID App – Download the FBI’s first mobile application to keep photos and other vital information about your child right at hand in the unlikely event he or she goes missing.
• Social Media—Visit the FBI on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter to join the conversation and get its breaking news and other content.
• Podcasts – Listen to and download the Bureau’s four regular shows on iTunes, along with new video versions of “Wanted by the FBI.” 
• FBI in español – The first web portal for Spanish-speakers which provides translations of key webpages and stories targeted to Hispanic audiences.
• Widgets – Incorporate FBI content into your website or blog.
• E-Mail and Text Alerts – Join the 200,000 subscribers who have FBI news and information across 250+ categories sent straight to their inboxes or wireless devices. Text message alerts are also available.

The public has responded to these initiatives by coming to the FBI website in record numbers in recent years, with more than 50 million visits in 2011 alone. Stay tuned for more new tools and features in the months to come.