Letters

Time to Open Up Party Conference and Caucus Rules

Twenty-five groups dedicated to openness and accountability asked the leaders of Congressional party caucuses and conferences to post their rules online. Public access to these rules would provide essential information about how Congress governs—how legislation leaves chambers, who may lead committees, and more.

09/19/2014

Groups Urge Public Disclosure of Legal Rationale for Military Force Against ISIS

OpenTheGovernment.org and seven other groups urged Senators Robert Menendez and Bob Corker to press for public disclosure of all Office of Legal Counsel memoranda and other legal opinions setting forth the legal rationale for the United States to use military force against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

09/17/2014

Four Members of Congress join OpenTheGovernment.org and Other Groups In Seeking End to Secret Legal Interpretations of Executive Order 12333

OpenTheGovernment.org, four members of Congress, and over forty other civil society organizations wrote to President Obama and the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) asking for a thorough investigation of the NSA’s surveillance under Executive Order 12333. The letter, organized by Access, states in part:

09/03/2014

Presidential Libraries Donation Reform Act

The donations that fund Presidential Libraries are mostly hidden from public view. Giving to fundraising organizations for these libraries creates ample opportunities for influence peddling outside in the government’s highest office. The Presidential Libraries Donation Reform Act (PLDRA) would help remedy that. Under the PLDRA, presidential library fundraisers would submit quarterly reports to the National Archives and Records Administration making record of contributions reaching and exceeding $200.

08/06/2014

21 Groups: Leahy's USA Freedom Bill Takes Steps for Transparency

Twenty groups joined OpenTheGovernment.org in a letter to Congressional leadership expressing their support for Senator Patrick Leahy's USA Freedom Act and asking for a floor vote on the bill.

OpenTheGovernment.org did not support the USA Freedom Act passed by the House of Representatives, partly due to the removal of the bill's important transparency provisions. The Senate bill includes provisions requiring meaningful reporting on the number of individuals or unique accounts whose information is collected under surveillance authorities.

Read more about the bill and reasons for the openness groups' support here.

07/29/2014

Broad Coalition Urges President to Oppose Cyber Bill

President Obama should speak out against S. 2588, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (“CISA”) of 2014, say thirty privacy, accountability, and transparency organizations, including OpenTheGovernment.org. CISA, which is headed to the Senate floor following a secret, closed-door markup, poses serious risks to government transparency and accountability, and fails to provide meaningful privacy protections, comprehensive cybersecurity solutions. The Obama administration threatened to veto 2012's CISPA, a bill with privacy shortcomings similar to CISA.

07/15/2014

Journalist Groups Urge President Obama to Increase Transparency

Thirty-seven groups, including OpenTheGovernment.org, joined the Society of Professional Journalists to urge President Obama to reverse the decades-long decline of press access to agencies and the executive offices. The groups note:

07/08/2014

Open Government, Privacy, and Civil Liberties Groups Oppose CISA

On June 26th, 35 groups wrote to members of Congress urging them to oppose the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2014 (CISA). The bill would create a "gaping loophole in existing privacy law," allowin gthe government to ask private companies to "voluntarily" share sensitive information that could be used to investigate and prosecute government whistleblowers.

06/27/2014

Broad Coalition of Organizations Sign on in Support of FOIA Improvement Act of 2014

Fifty organizations representing a broad range of interests and crossing the political spectrum expressed support for the recently-introduced FOIA Improvement Act of 2014, S. 2520. The bill was introduced earlier this week by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), who have a long history of working together to develop and pass legislation that makes the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) a better tool for the public to obtain government records.

06/26/2014

Groups Urge PCLOB to Recommend End to Backdoor 702 Searches

The Privacy and Liberties Oversight Board should follow the House of Representative's lead and recommend ending the searches conducted under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. According to the letter submitted by five groups to the PCLOB, "Such access should be granted only when the government has obtained an order from the FISA Court upon a showing of probable cause that the U.S.

06/26/2014

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