Strengthening Checks and Balances

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

OTG endorses stronger oversight, accountability, and transparency provisions in new CORE Act

Open The Government and several coalition partners endorsed the new Coronavirus Oversight and Recovery Ethics (CORE) Act, legislation introduced by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Chris Coons   Read Full

May 14, 2020

Trump Administration Awards $55 Million N95 Masks Contract to Questionable Company

The shortage of N95 masks, vital medical supplies that can help curb the spread of COVID-19, has made headlines due to the pandemic. This time because the Trump administration awarded   Read Full

April 20, 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

April 15, 2020

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

Congress Must Reassert Check on Executive Branch After Trump Airstrike Against Iran

Statement of Lisa Rosenberg, Executive Director, Open The Government. Note: The U.S. drone strike that recently killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Iraq stirred talk of war as Iran,   Read Full

January 9, 2020

LA Times Op-Ed: We need the full truth about the CIA’s torture program

CIA lobby seal

The new movie “The Report” is a powerful telling of the story of the Senate investigation into the horrors of the CIA’s torture program and the fight to allow the   Read Full

November 21, 2019

A FOIA Win: Interior’s final rule drops changes that would have stifled public requests

The Department of Interior published its final Freedom of Information Act regulations, with significant changes from proposed revisions first issued in December 2018. The changes address concerns of public interest   Read Full

October 28, 2019

Letter to Committee on Homeland Security Entered into Congressional Record at DHS FOIA Hearing

At the ‘Public’s Right to Know: FOIA at the Department of Homeland Security’ hearing held by the Oversight, Management, and Accountability Subcommittee of the Committee on Homeland Security, several Open   Read Full

October 18, 2019