Increasing National Security by Decreasing Secrecy

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   Read Full

September 30, 2020

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   Read Full

September 16, 2020

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   Read Full

September 3, 2020

Finally: Amazon’s Rekognition Moratorium Long Overdue

Facial Recognition Technology Regulation: A Practical Guide for Congress

Note: On Amazon’s one-year moratorium on police use of Rekognition, Lisa Rosenberg, executive director of Open The Government, issued the following statement: Amazon’s decision to implement this one-year moratorium on police   Read Full

June 11, 2020

Long-Lasting Police Reform Must Embrace Transparency To Be Effective

George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police is the most recent in a spate of African-Americans dying in encounters with police officers around the country. As protests over   Read Full

June 3, 2020

Trump Administration Restricted IG’s Access in JEDI Contract Investigation

On new audit report stating Defense Department inspector general could not fully review contested $10 billion JEDI Cloud contract because of “presidential communications privilege,” Lisa Rosenberg issued the following statement.   Read Full

April 15, 2020

Organizations Call on Congress to Oppose DoD Proposal to Weaken Lobbying Restrictions

A cross-section of organizations urged Congress to oppose the Department of Defense’s proposal to weaken restrictions on lobbying activity by former senior officials in the National Defense Authorization Act for   Read Full

25 Civil Society Organizations Urge Congress to Reject DoD’s Secrecy Proposal

Open The Government joined a coalition of civil society organizations urging Congress to reject the Department of Defense’s Freedom of Information Act exemption proposal in the National Defense Authorization Act   Read Full

DoD proposals for NDAA would weaken transparency, accountability when they’re needed most

Slated for late May, the markup schedule for this year’s National Defense Authorization Act is now in flux because of the congressional response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While we don’t   Read Full

April 13, 2020

New OTG Report Finds Abuses Persist at DHS Fusion Centers

Open The Government today released a new report on state and local “fusion centers,” created to share counterterrorism intelligence across government agencies to prevent the communication and coordination failures that   Read Full

March 26, 2020