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

Ethics.gov Launched by White House

On Thursday, 8 March, the White House announced the launch of Ethics.gov. The site, which is actually a Community on Data.gov, brings together and makes searchable the records of seven different databases:

03/08/2012

DOJ Cited for Contempt of Openness by National Security Archive, Wins Rosemary Award

The Department of Justice was awarded the 2012 Rosemary Award by the National Security Archive -- for a multi-count indictment of Justice's transparency performance in 2011, including:

02/15/2012

10 Months In, Agencies Still Not Meeting Administration's Sunshine Week Commitments

Almost a full year after the Administration announced that agencies would make staff directories more available to the public, and that agencies would proactively post reports to Congress and testimony on their site, only 9 of 29 agencies that have substantively acted on the Administration's Open Government Directive have complied.

02/01/2012

Agencies Seek Public Input on Open Gov Plan Refresh

Last week the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Transportation (DOT) invited the public to weigh in on "Version 2" of their Open Government Plans.

01/23/2012

OpenTheGovernment.org Partners and Other Allies Share Recommendations to Make Gov't More Open and Effective

On December 1, OpenTheGovernment.org shared a report with the Administration that includes recommendations for implementing each of the commitments from the National Action Plan (NAP). The report was drafted with input from a variety of OpenTheGovernment.org's coalition partners and other allies that have a stake in helping make the US government more open and accountable.

12/02/2011

A Look at Transparency and Federal Advisory Committees

In 1972 Congress passed the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) in response, in part, to widespread concerns that advisory committees did not represent the public interest and were too often closed to the public. Under FACA, committee meetings are presumptively open to the public. Yet, as we chart in our 2011 Secrecy Report, openness of federal advisory committees is increasingly the exception to the rule.

09/26/2011

OpenTheGovernment.org Welcomes New Commitments to Open and Accountable Government

WASHINGTON, September 20, 2011 - OpenTheGovernment.org welcomes the launch of the international Open Government Partnership and applauds President Obama and his Administration for committing to take a number of steps within the next year that will make the US federal government more open and accountable.

09/20/2011

WH Releases ImpressiveTransparency Status Report

Today the Obama Administration issued a report on its efforts to create a new level of openness in Government. The report provides a detailed overview of an impressive list of substantive changes in the openness of the Executive Branch the Administration has achieved in a relatively short period.

09/15/2011

Will "Super Committee" Members Be Transparent, or Just Hold Public Meetings?

On September 8th the so-called Super Committee charged with developing a plan for $1.5 trillion in debt reduction over the next ten years will hold its first meeting. The purpose of the meeting is organizational - it will include opening statements by panel members and will focus on consideration of proposed committee rules. The sliver of sunshine is that the Committee appears to be ready to commit to opening up its formal hearings to the public. That news is only some comfort, though, to anyone who is interested in making sure we have an open and accountable government.

09/07/2011

Super Committee Transparency "A Terrible Idea." Really?

Yesterday the Atlantic ran an opinion piece by a senior editor arguing that the increasingly popular push to get the Super Committee to adopt a strong transparency regime is "an absolutely terrible idea." The author's opinion seems to come in part from a basic misunderstanding of what a strong transparency regime looks like. It also seems, though, that he sees a very different world than the one we have seen in experience.

08/11/2011