Today, the Obama administration made an important advance in executive branch transparency by agreeing to publish the White House visitor logs.  Norm Eisen wrote on the White House blog that, “Each month, records of visitors from the previous 90-120 days will be made available online.”  The White House agreed to this measure as part of a settlement in a lawsuit brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).  As part of this settlement, the Obama administration will also turn over some visitor logs belonging to the Bush administration.

On Aug. 24, the Washington Independent published a new version of a redacted 2004 report by CIA Inspector General John Helgerson on the agency’s so-called “Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities.”  The report was previously released in 2008 to the National Security Archive but remained mostly classified.  The 2009 release, made in accordance with an order by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in an ACLU FOIA lawsuit, uncover new details of the CIA’s secretive torture programs.

In 2008, K Street received $86 million from foreign sources to pursue their interests with representatives of the American people.  While states and populations abroad certainly have legitimate interests in U.S. domestic and foreign policy, the origins of much of that money are still largely shrouded in secrecy.  The data, until now, has been difficult for most Americans to access.  As a result, the Sunlight Foundation and ProPublica joined together to track which foreign governments and corporations are lobbying for representation in the U.S. Congress.

Last week, the Obama administration quietly filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court that gives us a glimpse into the president’s interpretation of executive branch power.  Seemingly seeking to expand and protect this power, the administration argued that the state secrets privilege is “constitutionally rooted.”