Celebrating Sunshine Week 2013
Mar 7, 2013 by Gavin Baker
Sunshine Week, a nationwide initiative highlighting the importance of open government and accountability, will be held this year from March 10-16. Created by journalists in 2002, Sunshine Week is designed to educate people on their right to access public information in understandable, user-friendly formats to participate more effectively in democracy and to use such information to protect and improve their communities.
read in full
National Archives Launches Initial CUI Registry
Nov 4, 2011 by Gavin Baker
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) today launched the initial registry of controlled unclassified information (CUI) categories that agencies can use to safeguard sensitive but unclassified information. President Obama called for the registry in his executive order on CUI, which he signed one year ago today.
read in fullA Face-to-Face with the President about Transparency
Mar 29, 2011 by Gary Bass*
Yesterday, I had a once-in-a-career opportunity – to discuss transparency in the Oval Office with the President of the United States.
read in fullAdministration Scores a ‘Shows Improvement’ on Secrecy Report Card
Sep 7, 2010 by Sean Moulton
Today, OpenTheGovernment.org released their annual Secrecy Report card, which tracks key indicators and statistics for executive branch secrecy. The Obama administration came into office placing a high priority on transparency and collaboration, promising to be the most open and accountable administration in history. The report, which covers the first 9 months of the Obama presidency, indicates the administration made noticeable progress in several areas.
read in fullAdministration Moves to Postpone Records Declassification
Nov 30, 2009 by Roger Strother*
The Federation of American Scientists blog, Secrecy News, revealed early last week that a revised draft of an executive order on the classification of national security information was circulated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in mid-November. Despite consulting with the open government community during the policy making process, the policy is rumored to be an unfortunate step backward.
Intelligence Community Tries & Fails to add Silly Exemption to FOIA
Sep 21, 2009 by Roger Strother*
Earlier this month, the Washington Post ran a story about the intelligence community’s efforts to push legislators to amend the Intelligence Authorization Act (S. 1494) to exempt “terrorist identity information (TII)” from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Currently, this information is marked as Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) with a stamp that reads “for official use only” but the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) made claims that the information could readily be requested under FOIA with little protection. We have proof that these claims were ridiculous.
OpenTheGovernment.org Issues New Secrecy Report Card
Sep 8, 2009 by Roger Strother*
Today, OpenTheGovernment.org released its 2009 Secrecy Report Card. The report makes use of most quantitative indicators currently available to compare the Obama and Bush administrations. While it is too early to effectively compare the two administrations the report notes a slight decrease in secrecy levels during the end of the Bush administration. Further, while the Obama administration is pursuing a promise of unprecidented openness the results are mixed.
Taskforce Deadline for CUI Review Quickly Approaching
Aug 13, 2009 by Roger Strother*
August 27 is the deadline for completion of recommendations to be made by an interagency taskforce assigned by the president that address the issue of secrecy labeling in the federal government. No indication as of yet as to what those recommendations may contain. As part of our effort to educate the government and the public on the importance of this issue, we interviewed several experts about the key questions.
read in fullBREAKING: Administration Creates Interagency Review Teams for Overclassification and CUI
May 27, 2009 by Roger Strother*
Today, the Obama administration released a memo requiring reviews of overclassification and the current Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)/ Sensitive but Unclassified (SBU) process. The memo does not dictate any new procedures on how agencies must handle such designated material. However, it does establish an interagency 90-day review process to advise the administration on actions it should take to advance on previous efforts to reform these problems.
read in fullHouse Passes Bill to Improve Information Sharing with First Responders
Feb 4, 2009 by Roger Strother*
On Tuesday, the House passed the Reducing Over-Classification Act of 2009 (H.R. 553). The legislation details steps the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must take to share intelligence with state, local, and tribal agencies.
