Reports Detail Agency Efforts to Improve FOIA Implementation

New reports from federal agencies' chief FOIA officers reveal efforts to improve the performance of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) system. The reports show that many agencies have taken steps to improve their FOIA performance over the last year but that many challenges persist despite these advances.

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OMB Watch Assesses Obama Administration's Progress on Open Government Recommendations

WASHINGTON, March 18, 2011—OMB Watch today published an in-depth analysis of the Obama administration's progress on a wide-ranging set of open government recommendations. The recommendations were crafted by a diverse group of organizations and individuals as part of the 21st Century Right to Know Project, which was coordinated by OMB Watch in 2007 and 2008.

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OMB Watch Analysis Finds Obama Administration Slowly Rebuilding Government's FOIA Performance

WASHINGTON, March 16, 2011—Today, OMB Watch released an initial analysis of the Obama administration's performance on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) implementation based on federal agency annual reports under the act. Though some progress has been made, the analysis shows that the federal government is still in a rebuilding phase when it comes to FOIA openness.

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Congress Works to Improve Legislative Transparency

At the outset of the 112th Congress, both the House and Senate have adopted new rules to increase the transparency of their activities. The Senate will end its practice of "secret holds," where one senator could anonymously forestall proceedings on a bill. Meanwhile, the House adopted a variety of transparency reforms, including posting bills online for three days before voting on them and disclosing more information about committee actions.

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In WikiLeaks' Wake, Administration Tightens Information Security

A new memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) details a new requirement for all federal agencies to assess aspects of their information security in the wake of a series of embarrassing disclosures by WikiLeaks. The memo directs agencies to consider 11 pages of questions relating to information security procedures, including whether employees are required to report contacts with journalists. Transparency advocates have criticized some aspects of OMB's strategy as potentially damaging to open government.

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The Teas of Transparency

2010 was a banner year for government transparency, with many significant advances and only a few disappointments. However, there were other events outside the world of government openness that seeped into the collective consciousness, and one of the most notable was the rise of the Tea Party in American politics. For this year-in-review article, we decided to take a somewhat tongue-in-cheek approach to assessing and commenting on events in government openness, playing off the theme of tea. Thus, we present to you … the Teas of Transparency.

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Whither Transparency in the Next Congress?

When the 112th Congress convenes in January, attention will be focused on the newly Republican-controlled House. On transparency issues, House Republican leaders have sounded positive tones. However, it remains to be seen whether bipartisan consensus on meaningful transparency can be achieved or whether transparency will be wielded as a partisan weapon.

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Commentary: In Case of Bailout, Break Glass for Transparency

With the unpopular bank bailout, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), coming to a close, policymakers should begin looking back at the program to glean lessons from its creation and execution. When TARP was created by an act of Congress in 2008, the imperative was speed, not transparency. Unfortunately, that lack of transparency and other problems plague the program nearly two years later.

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Commentary: Did OMB Block Worst-Case Estimates of Oil Spill?

A working paper by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling has ignited a controversy about the role of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in controlling information about the spill. The working paper alleges that, soon after the April 20 explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon rig, OMB blocked plans to disclose the government's worst-case models of the spill. The administration's response to the allegations leaves several key questions without clear answers, which can only be resolved by disclosing the drafts and feedback through which these critical documents were developed.

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Transparency Survey Offers Mixed Results for Federal Government

A recent transparency survey of more than 5,000 Americans found that more than three-fourths gave the government low scores (59 or lower out of 100), and only seven percent rated the government as highly transparent (a score of 80 or higher). The White House received the highest transparency score in the study, and Congress received the worst score among government entities. However, limitations of the study make any final judgment on the success or failure of the government’s transparency efforts difficult.

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