Opening Government

Administration Issues Updated Guidance for Agency Open Government Plans

On February 28, the Administration issued updated guidance for agencies to use as they develop 2014 open government plans.

03/04/2014

Coalition for Court Transparency Launches

Today, OpenTheGovernment.org joined several media and civil society groups to form the Coalition for Court Transparency, a group calling on justices to allow cameras to televise oral arguments.

02/18/2014

Groups Ask House to Vote on Bill to Make Presidential Library Fundraising More Transparent

On February 6, more than 20 groups joined to urge the House Leadership to schedule time to debate and vote on H.R. 1133, the Presidential Library Donation Reform Act.

Currently, presidents raise funds privately to establish their presidential libraries. As these efforts often begin well before they leave office, and the system is completely unregulated and undisclosed, the fund-raising creates opportunities for, or the appearance of, influence-peddling.

02/07/2014

NSA Reforms: Will the Administration Take On Transparency?

On Friday, January 16^th, President Obama will outline the administration’s reforms of the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs. As the Church Committee said in its 1976 report (and the President’s review group cited), “The American public… should know enough about intelligence activities to be able to apply its good sense to the underlying issues of policy and morality. Knowledge is the key to control.” We couldn’t agree more.

01/16/2014

Commitment Analysis: Open Government? Check. Public Participation? Not yet.

The following is cross-posted with permission from the blog Conflict and Collaboration. It is written by Tina Nabatchi, Associate Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University

12/20/2013

Openness Shuts Down with the Government

Over the weekend Chairman Patrick Leahy of the Senate Judiciary Committee shone some much needed light on the government shutdown's effect on government openness, noting that "We literally have a closed government." As reported by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, some agencies have made their FOIA websites completely inactive during the shutdown and more than a dozen agencies have confirmed that their FOIA operations are being reduced until the government is re-opened. While other agencies have not confirmed that they have reduced FOIA operations, we have reason to believe the list of effected offices is larger. Read more to see Senator Leahy's statement on the public's right to know.

10/07/2013

Former-Representative Mickey Edwards on Restoring Accountability to National Security Programs

For the release of this Secrecy Report, we asked former-Representative Mickey Edwards, who is also the author of, The Parties Versus the People: How to Turn Republicans and Democrats into Americans and a noted commentator on restoring the Constitution’s balances of power, to provide insight on how to secure better oversight of national security programs.

How could Congress’ oversight of intelligence programs be improved? Or how can the system of checks and balances be restored to our intelligence programs?

First, the congress must reclaim its constitutional authority to oversee the executive branch, decide on questions of war and peace, regulate the armed forces, and determine how federal funds are to be expended. These are the proper powers of congress but more importantly they are the obligations the constitution places on congress to ensure that the people, through their representatives, control the activities of the federal government.

10/01/2013

Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) Must be More Transparent and Accountable

Several partners and allies joined OpenTheGovernmnet.org in sending a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew urging him to adopt policies that would increase transparency and accountability at the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), the office tasked, in part, with granting civil society organizations licenses so that they are able to provide services to civilians in conflict zo

10/01/2013

Join Us and FOIA on the Fourth

The public’s right to know is at the heart of the United States’ founding. Without knowledge of government practice, how can there be public debate? Without transparency, how can there be informed dissent?

On the Fourth of July we celebrate the independence of the United States, and the 1966 signing of the Freedom of Information Act. Before the fireworks burst this Fourth of July, we’ll be wielding one of the most powerful tools available to the public. Will you join us?

06/24/2013

Public Information about Government Data Will Improve With New Obama Policy

The Obama Administration released an Executive Order and a Policy Directive today that move the federal government forward in a significant direction -- officially requiring that, going forward, data generated by the government be made available in open, machine-readable formats (with appropriate protections). Most notably, it requires that agencies create and maintain an “enterprise data inventory, if it does not already exist, that accounts for datasets used in the agency's information systems" -- with the ultimate goal of including all agency datasets, and with indications whether the agency has determined that the individual datasets may be made publicly available and whether these are currently available to the public.

05/09/2013

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