Improving Access

OpenTheGov, POGO, and Allies Ask for Full Release of Crucial Information Regarding Camp Lejeune

January 24, 2012- WASHINGTON, D.C.--OpenTheGovernment.org, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) and allies are pressing the Pentagon and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to come clean about water contamination at the U.S. Marine Corps base, Camp Lejeune—where Marines, civilians, and their families were poisoned by the water they used and drank, but have yet to see justice after years of secrecy. Their plight was recently featured in the Academy Awards short-listed film, Semper Fi: Always Faithful, which documents the catastrophic effects of the contamination and resulting cover-up.

01/24/2012

Partners Join in Opposition to Bill That Cuts Off Access to Taxpayer-funded Research

Thirty organizations, including several coalition partners, joined OpenTheGovernment.org in sending a letter to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee expressing strong opposition to the Research Works Act (H.R.3699), a bill designed to roll back a hard-fought-for policy that secu

01/23/2012

FOIA.gov Fails to "Shine a Light"

Over a year and a half after the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that its Open Government Flagship Initiative would be to "launch a Web site that collects cross‐government data about agency [Freedom of Information Act] FOIA performance and presents it in an easy‐to‐understand, interactive format," the site, FOIA.gov, fails to meet that promise. Despite useful bells and whistles, the site is beset with technical glitches and low quality data.

01/17/2012

Are Agencies Releasing Less Information under President Obama?

A recent report we released with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) used data collected annually by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in agencies’ reports on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) processing. This data is supposed to allow the public to assess the effect of the Obama Administration's FOIA policy on agency practice.

01/04/2012

Report: Obama Administration Makes Transparency Gains; Challenges Remain

An analysis by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and OpenTheGovernment.org of data collected by the government on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) processing reveals challenges the Obama Administration must overcome to create the "unprecedented level of openness" President Obama promised on his first day in office.

12/15/2011

Groups Support Leahy Amendment to Push Back DOD Secrecy

OpenTheGovernment.org and a wide range of nonprofit organizations sent a letter to the Senate today in support of an amendment by Senator Leahy to the National Defense Authorization Act to improve an over-broad and ill-defined provision relating to “critical infrastructure information,” in Section 1044 of the bill.

11/17/2011

DOJ Withdraws Controversial Change to FOIA Regs

We join Senator Leahy in commending the Department of Justice on withdawing the controversial section (16.6 (f)(2)) from their proposed revisions to the Department's FOIA regulations. As we noted, the provision would have amended the FOIA regulations to allow the DOJ, when it determined that requested documents it holds fit within exclusions under 5 U.S.C

11/03/2011

OpenTheGov and ARL Join EFF in Urging Government to Make all Parts of the Law Easily Available to Everyone

Fundamental principles of American democracy dictate that “citizens must have free access to the laws which govern them.” When an agency incorporates copyrighted material into its regulations (by referring to but not linking to them, i.e. "Incorporation by Reference"), public access to that material may be significantly compromised. Without agency policies that foster broad availability, incorporation of copyrighted materials permits copyright holders to serve as gatekeepers of public access to federal law.

10/24/2011

OpenTheGov and CREW Join ACLU Comments: Allowing Agencies to Lie about Records Undermines FOIA

OpenTheGovernment.org joined the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) in submitting comments opposing a proposed rule that would allow agencies to lie about the existence of certain records in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

10/19/2011

Agencies Should Use Open Gov Page to Promote Info Releases

The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) open government page (www.dhs.gov/open) has a good feature: a clear link to a page where the agency posts its policy on proactive disclosures. The policy stems from an August 26, 2009 memo from the DHS Chief Privacy Officer that directs agency personnel to make certain types of records available.

08/26/2011

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