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Accountability 2021: Recommendations for accountability in the federal government

In January of 2020, nearly two dozen organizations came together to begin work on setting an agenda for a more accountable government. What united them was not a partisan political agenda but the belief that (1) our democratic institutions must be more accountable to the public they serve; (2) and the time is ripe, no

Open Government Coalition Urges NARA to Preserve Presidential Records

Open The Government led a coalition of 12 organizations urging the archivist of the United States to take steps to maintain White House records for effective executive oversight. In a letter to David Ferriero, the organizations urged the National Archives and Records Administration to take necessary steps to preserve a complete and accurate historical record

Trump’s COVID-19 infection raises unanswered questions about health, accountability to Americans

Trump’s recent coronavirus diagnosis is calling attention to secrecy surrounding the president’s latest health records. Trump’s medical team refuses to disclose when the president last tested negative for COVID-19, leaving the public in the dark about when he contracted the disease and who he might have exposed. Americans also received inconsistent information about therapies he

DHS Records Destruction Proposal Would Sanction Agency’s Persistent Misconduct

WASHINGTON – A coalition of transparency and accountability organizations, led by Open The Government, strongly oppose the Department of Homeland Security’s proposal to reclassify as “temporary” complaint records related to the agency’s extensive list of civil rights and civil liberties violations. If approved, the proposal submitted to the National Archives and Records Administration would grant DHS the authority

Open Government Coalition Urge Ratcliffe to Reverse Decision on In-Person Briefings on Election Security

Open The Government led a coalition of 11 organizations urging the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) Director John Ratcliffe to reverse his recent decision to limit in-person congressional briefings on election security. In a letter to Ratcliffe, the transparent and accountability organizations asked the ODNI to re-commit to in-person election security briefings

ODNI election security briefing changes undermine Americans’ right to know

Lisa Rosenberg, executive director of Open The Government, released the following statement on the Office of Director of National Intelligence’s decision to stop in-person election security briefings for Congress and provide only written intelligence reports leading up to the 2020 election: “ODNI’s decision to provide written intelligence reports instead of extensive verbal, in-person briefings on election security is a brazen

COVID-19 secrecy rampant as agencies clampdown on FOIA

When the coronavirus pandemic swept through the United States earlier this year, the federal government actively worked to curtail the public’s right to information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Our government ignored, undermined, and blatantly rejected requests for records – all while taking unprecedented measures to control the messaging around the coronavirus and

Open The Government is an inclusive, nonpartisan coalition that works to strengthen our democracy and empower the public by advancing policies that create a more open, accountable, and responsive government.