OpenTheGovernment.org | Americans for Less Secrecy, More DemocracyOpenTheGovernment.org seeks to advance the public's right to know and to reduce secrec

WikiLeaks Frequently Asked Questions

While the answers below were developed with input and advice from a broad range of our partners, they do not represent and are not intended to be representative of a consensus view among our coalition partners, or the wider openness community.

12/20/2010

Open Government Advocates Welcome New Limits on Information Markings

Washington, DC, November 4, 2010 - Organizations working on government openness and accountability welcome the release of the Executive Order on Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). The Order rescinds the Bush Administration CUI memorandum, which was intended to create "a tiered system of designations and establish a framework for designating, marking, safeguarding, and disseminating designated information." Instead, the Order simply standardizes and limits the use of control markings on unclassified information.

11/04/2010

Revised Plans Raise the Bar on Open Government: Agencies Respond to Feedback

Washington, DC - An updated ranking of agencies' Open Government Plans compiled during an independent audit reveals that 10 agencies joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the list of strongest plans, due to new plan versions created since the initial releases on April 7. The updated plans also decrease the wide variation in the strength of plans noted earlier this year. The response by so many agencies is very encouraging and truly in the spirit of the Open Government Directive.

09/28/2010

Open Government Groups Release Agency Evaluation Plans for Comment

Washington, DC, September 21, 2010 - The public has the opportunity to comment on a new proposal to evaluate the openness of federal agencies through October 4. The proposal, which is posted for comment here: http://bit.ly/ogov-feedback, is the product of a project by OpenTheGovernment.org to evaluate the Obama Administration's Open Government Initiative.

09/28/2010

Report: Secrecy Ebbs From Bush Administration High Water Marks, Backlogs in Declassification System

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7, 2010 - The 2010 Secrecy Report Card released today by OpenTheGovernment.org - a coalition of more than 70 groups advocating for open government - chronicles a continued decrease in most indicators of secrecy since the end of the Bush Administration and growing backlogs in the declassification system as old secrets move through the system. The report covers the first 9 months of President Obama's Administration, which he pledged would be the most open, transparent and accountable in history.

09/28/2010

Most Agencies Improve Open Government Plans Before Deadline

Washington, DC, June 28, 2010 - Twenty-two of 39 federal agencies responded to the call from OpenTheGovernment.org to issue revised Open Government Plans by last Friday's deadline. OpenTheGovernment.org will work with volunteers to re-evaluate the strength of the plans, and provide feedback on the changes. The organization will release updated findings in July.

09/28/2010

Open Government Advocates Seek Input on Revision to Classification Policy

WASHINGTON, August 2, 2009 - This past weekend, 21 public advocacy organizations and individuals delivered a letter to General James L. Jones, the President's National Security Advisor, requesting that the public be given an opportunity to provide comment on the actual language of the proposed revisions to the Executive Order on national security classification prior to their finalization.

09/28/2010

Audit Reveals Wide Variation in Agency Plans to Make Government More Open

Washington, DC, April 29, 2010-A ranking of agencies' Open Government Plans compiled during an independent audit reveals the strongest and weakest agency plans, with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the top of the list and the Department of Justice (DOJ) at the bottom. With a few notable exceptions, agencies that have a history of being transparent, participatory, and collaborative produced stronger plans than agencies that are historically secretive. Strikingly, the audit also found that several agencies that are supposed to lead by example on the government openness front failed to do so in their Open Government Plans.

09/28/2010

OpenTheGovernment.org Welcomes the Open Government Directive

WASHINGTON, December 8, 2009 - OpenTheGovernment.org welcomes today's release of the long-awaited Open Government Directive and looks forward to working with the Obama Administration and other federal employees to create the unprecedented level of openness in Government promised by the President on his first day in office.

09/28/2010

Report Tracks Secrecy and Openness in Bush and Obama Administrations

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2009 - The 2009 Secrecy Report Card chronicles slight decreases in secrecy across a wide spectrum of indicators in the last year of the Bush-Cheney Administration. The report, released today by a coalition of more than 70 open government advocates, also provides a six-month overview of the Obama Administration's promise and practice on openness issues, and a section on financial transparency during the economic crisis.

09/28/2010

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