On May 29th, 2014 Executive Director Patrice McDermott testified before the Subcommittee on Government Operations of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Her testimony addressed the growing use of the unclassified designation of information in executive branch departments and agencies.
OTG’s Assistant Director Amy Bennett testified the open government community’s priorities for FOIA reform and modernization last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee. In her oral testimony, Bennett recommended that Congress put tighter boundaries on the use of exemption 5 of the FOIA through a public balancing test and time limit on the application of the exemption.
OpenTheGovernment.org Director Patrice McDermott presented testimony at a hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment, along with Meredith Fuchs of the National Security Archive and Caroline Fredrickson of the ACLU, on "controlled unclassified information" (CUI), and H.R.
Patrice McDermott, Director of OpenTheGovernment.org, testified on May 14, 2008, before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security, at a hearing titled National Archives Oversight: Protecting Our Nation's History for Future Generations.
Patrice McDermott, Director of OpenTheGovernment.org, testified on April 23, 2008, before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives on the Electronic Communications Preservation Act.
Patrice McDermott, Director of OpenTheGovernment.org, testified on implementation of Executive Order 13392, President George W. Bush's directive on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on July 26, 2006, before the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Management, Finance, and Accountability.
OTG recently testified on the progress of efforts to stop the use of markings like “FOUO.” Agencies inappropriately use such markings to withhold information requested under FOIA. See our testimony here.