Reports, Testimony, Letters
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REPORTSReports
Government Secrecy on the Rise: New Book Updates 1987 Report on Government Secrecy
A new report by OpenTheGovernment.org and People For the American Way Foundation, Government Secrecy: Decisions Without Democracy 2007 [PDF], documents how executive power has dramatically expanded while executive accountability has diminished. Read the press release.
Congressional Access to Classified National Security Information
This paper is a joint product of OpenTheGovernment.org, the Center for National Security Studies (CNSS), and the Center for American Progress published in conjunction with an event at the Center for American Progress, "CLASSIFIED: Ensuring Congressional Access to National Security Information." Kate Martin, author of this paper, is director of CNSS.
Secrecy Report Card 2006
Government secrecy saw further expansion in 2005 despite growing public concern. Press release.
FOIA's 40th Anniversary:
Agencies Respond to the President's Call for Improved Disclosure of Information
In recognition of this important milestone in the history of disclosure of agency information, members and staff of OpenTheGovernment.org, the Sunshine in Government Initiative (SGI), Coalition of Journalists for Open Government (CJOG), National Security Archive, and other friends of openness in government undertook a collaborative look at a sample of the plans submitted by federal agencies in response to E.O. 13392, "Improving Agency Disclosure of Information," issued on December 14, 2005. View the accompanying table here. Press release.
Secrecy Report Card 2005
Government agencies are expanding secrecy in many areas, according to the findings of our report released on
September 4, 2005. Press Release.
Secrecy Report Card: An Update
The federal government set a new record for keeping secrets in 2004, during which government employees chose to classify information a record 15.6 million times, according to new government figures highlighted in an update to OpenTheGovernment.org's Secrecy Report Card. Press Release
Secrecy Report Card: Quantitative Indicators of Secrecy in the Federal Government
Government data now confirm what many have suspected: Secrecy has increased dramatically in recent years under policies of the current administration. A 60 percent rise in secrecy during 2003 cost $6.5 billion. Press Release
Ten Most Wanted Documents for 2004
The 'Ten Most Wanted' is a list of documents that the public identified as the top documents the government should disclose to the public but does not. Press Release, Press Hits
Testimony
Testimony on the Implementation of Executive Order 13392
Patrice McDermott, Director of OpenTheGovernment.org, testified on July 26, 2006 before the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Management, Finance, and Accountability.
OpenTheGovernment.org, Allies write House: Defend America by Defending the Law [.pdf] [3.5.08]
OpenTheGovernment.org joined 42 signatories in urging Congress to take the time to craft a bill that gives the intelligence community only the narrow authority it needs to track terrorists abroad while protecting the privacy of people in the United States.
Letter to Senate supporting S. 2663 [.pdf] [2.26.08]
OpenTheGovernment.org joined 45 groups in signing a letter to the Senate in support of S. 2663, legislation to extend whistleblower protection to strengthen the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Letter to Congressional Appropriators re: OPEN Government Act/OGIS [.pdf] [2.6.08]
OpenTheGovernment.org, along with forty-two other organizations, sent a letter to congressional appropriators (same text sent to House, Senate) to urge them to keep the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). President Bush's proposed budget attempts to shift the Office to DOJ and repeal part of the OPEN Government Act, which he signed on December 31, 2007, updating FOIA for the first time since 1996.
Letter to Smithsonian Board of Regents [.pdf] [1.17.08] [see also the accompanying memo]
OpenTheGovernment.org, along with thirty other organizations, wrote to the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, urging that they rescind a recently-adopted policy, Directive 807, that would permit the Smithsonian Institution to withhold from the public information regarding the finances and activities of the Institution.
Groups write to Senators to oppose secrecy provisions in the 2007 Farm Bill [.pdf] [11.6.07]
Twenty-eight groups wrote to Senators to express opposition to the non-disclosure provisions (Sec. 10305 of the Livestock Title) in the 2007 Farm Bill approved by the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee on October 25, 2007. The language would create an unnecessary bar to public disclosure and use or publication of information related to the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).
Good Government Coalition and Consumer Groups Support Whistleblower Rights / Product Safety Reform [.pdf] [10.29.07]
Forty-two organizations wrote Members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee to applaud the Committee's leadership toward product safety reform by including whistleblower protection as a primary law enforcement safeguard in S. 2045, the (Consumer Product Safety Commission) CPSC Reform Act of 2007.
Letter to Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi to request public hearings on FISA [.pdf] [9.25.07 and 10.4.07]
OpenTheGovernment.org and several coalition partners signed on to a letter to Sen. Harry Reid to ask him to insist on public hearings on any proposed legislation to alter the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) before either the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence or the Senate Judiciary Committee votes on such legislation.
Letter to Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid on Protect America Act of 2007 [.pdf] [9.4.07]
OpenTheGovernment.org signed on to a letter sharing concerns over the Protect America Act of 2007 and sharing basic principles that must be respected to ensure that U.S. persons' electronic communications are protected from unwarranted government intrusion.
Letter to Senator Reid on need to pass bipartisan whistleblower rights legislation [.pdf] [7.30.07]
Forty-six good government groups signed onto a letter, organized by the Government Accountability Project (GAP), to encourage Senator Reid to help pass the Whistleblower Protection Act (S. 274), which has been held up in the Senate.
Letter to Sens. Reid and McConnell to support OPEN Govt Act [.pdf] [5.17.07]
101 signatories, including partners of OpenTheGovernment.org and others, sent a letter to Senator Reid and Senator McConnell urging them to support the OPEN Government Act (S.849) and bring it to the Senate floor for a vote.
Letter to urge Republicans to support the OPEN Government Act [.pdf] [5.2.07]
OpenTheGovernment.org sent letters on behalf of 39 member organizations to Republican Senators urging them to support the OPEN Government Act of 2007 (S. 849). At the time the letter was sent, only 3 Republicans (Sens. Cornyn, Isakson, and Specter) had signed on as co-sponsors.
Letters to Attorney General Gonzales and Archivist Weinstein regarding preservation of Guantanamo records [.pdf] [4.26.07]
Coalition partners and others sent letters to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein on April 26, regarding an order that purports to transform the requirement that a complete set of the documents and records be maintained into an option. These letters request that the Attorney General and Archivist confirm that a complete set of the records will be maintained under the ordinary federal records laws and urges, in addition, that such records be preserved as permanent historical records.
Letter in support of Senate electronic disclosure [.pdf]
Partners of OpenTheGovernment.org and others sent letters to Sen. Stevens and Sen. McConnell urging them to support S. 223, the "Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act", without amendment on the Senate floor.
Letter to Sen. McConnell.
Letter to Speaker Pelosi [.pdf] [3.28.07]
Seventeen partners in the OpenTheGovernment.org coalition and others sent letters on Wednesday, March 28, to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and to the members of the House Administration Committee and the Senate Rules Committee urging action to ensure no-fee online public access to all CRS (Congressional Research Service) reports.
Letter to Speaker Pelosi
Senate Rules letter
Letter to House Administration
Letter opposing espionage amendment [.pdf] [2.27.07] More than twenty organizations wrote to oppose a proposed amendment to S. 236 offered by Sen. Kyl. The Judiciary Committee has held no hearings or debate on the practical or constitutional implications of this amendment that would unconstitutionally and unnecessarily expand existing espionage statutes.
Letter on the control and designation of controlled unclassified information (CUI) [.pdf] [1.3.07]
Patrice McDermott, Director of OpenTheGovernment.org, co-signed a letter to Ambassador Thomas McNamara, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, expressing the desire to remain involved in the process of formulating effective policy for the designation and management of controlled unclassified information (CUI) and outlining several of the principles that we hope the committee will take into consideration in formulating
CUI policy.
OpenTheGovernment.org Letter to the New Congress
We welcome the incoming 110th Congress. We hope that they and the President recognize that the elections were as much about improving government transparency and accountability as they were about changing course. More than 40% of voters indicated in exit polls that corruption and scandals in government were very important in their voting decisions. Sunshine on the workings of Congress and the Executive Branch is the first step toward winning back public trust. Continue reading...
Groups urge modification to public disclosure provisions [.pdf] [9.26.06]
Over twenty groups signed a letter to key House members to urge modification of the public disclosure provisions of HR 5533, which would establish a new Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority within the Department of Health and Human Services. The letter was organized by Alan Pearson, Director, Biological and Chemical Weapons Control Program Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
Correct misuse of Sensitive Security Information control marking [9.14.06]
On September 14, 2006, OpenTheGovernment.org sent a letter to Senate and House Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Conferees on behalf of twenty-eight signatories. The letter asked conferees to help correct the misuse of the Sensitive Security Information (SSI) control marking by adopting Section 525 of the House version of H.R. 5441.
OpenTheGovernment.org supports meaningful whistleblower protection rights [.pdf] [7.28.06]
Members of OpenTheGovernment.org sent a letter to the ranking members of the House Armed Services Committee to support whistleblower protection rights in the FY2007 Defense Authorization Act.
Post Katrina-Related Contracts Online, Groups Tell Bush [.pdf] [12.15.05]
More than 50 organizations, including civil liberties, media, library, and environmental groups, sent a letter to President Bush urging the White House to post all spending documents related to Hurricane Katrina relief and reconstruction spending on the Internet.