Drupal Category: Reducing Secrecy

New Bipartisan FOIA Bill Punches Back at Attacks

Bill will protect public access to information from private entities that do business with the government following Supreme Court decision. The new Open and Responsive Government Act of 2019, introduced   Read Full

July 23, 2019

Facial Recognition Technology Regulation: A Practical Guide for Congress

Facial Recognition Technology Regulation: A Practical Guide for Congress

The dearth of accountability safeguards as government agencies acquire facial recognition technologies prompted Open The Government and a growing list of civil society groups to urge Congress to swiftly regulate   Read Full

July 19, 2019

Enough with Congressional Hearings on Facial Recognition: Pointers to Regulate the Technology

Recent news headlines about federal agencies using facial recognition technology to scour state databases around the country for Americans’ driving licenses without their knowledge or permission is rightfully drawing the   Read Full

July 16, 2019

Defense Department’s Gag Rule Memo Spurs Letter Urging Office of the Special Counsel to Investigate

Open The Government and the Government Accountability Project sent a letter to the Office of the Special Counsel today urging the agency to investigate the Department of Defense’s new policy   Read Full

May 22, 2019

FOIA Request by OTG & ACLU Uncovers Significant Racial Disparities in DC’s Police Arrests

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Open The Government and ACLU-DC, the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) recently provided extensive arrest data for   Read Full

May 14, 2019

More Than a Dozen Organizations Urge Defense Department to Reverse Decision to Limit Afghanistan War Reports

A cross-section of organizations signed a letter late last week to acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan calling for a reversal of the military’s decision to stop collecting and releasing important   Read Full

May 13, 2019

Asserting Executive Privilege Over Mueller Report Strong-Arms Congress & Fuels Controversy

Statement of Lisa Rosenberg, Executive Director, Open The Government The House Committee on the Judiciary’s requests for the full Mueller report to be released to Congress are based on transparency   Read Full

May 8, 2019

Kevin McAleenan Requests Additional Border Funds as Coalition of Over 100 Organizations Condemn DHS Surveillance of Activists, Journalists, and Lawyers

Before his testimony to Congress today asking for more border funds, Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan was the recipient of a coalition letter from over 100 organizations   Read Full

May 2, 2019

Overly Politicizing Redacted Mueller Report Would Miss What’s Really at Stake

Statement of Lisa Rosenberg, Executive Director, Open The Government Note: On the Thursday release of the redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report on the Russia investigation by   Read Full

April 18, 2019

Will William Barr Stand on the Right (or Wrong) Side of History?

U.S. Attorney General’s actions will soon reveal whether he will honor coast-to-coast demands to make the Mueller report public Note: Barr received Mueller’s report concluding a 22-month investigation into Russian   Read Full

March 23, 2019