More than three years after the enactment of the Electronic Freedom of Information Act (E-FOIA), most federal agencies still fall far short of its requirements, according to a new OMB Watch report,"A People Armed?" Under E-FOIA, agencies are required to package four categories of information in electronic form for public use. This includes making all official agency pronouncements available through the Internet (or some other electronic means) and providing reference guides for accessing information electronically. Unfortunately, however, agencies have been negligent in the law's implementation. Of the 64 agencies examined in the report, 7 (11 percent) have no useful E-FOIA presence, 57 (89 percent) have varying degrees of compliance with the requirements, and, as of Nov. 24, 1999, no agency had fully complied with E-FOIA. "Agencies have not made this a priority," says Patrice McDermott, the report's author. "And until they do, the full promise of the digital age to increase government transparency and accountability cannot be realized." In the meantime, the public is denied important electronic files that could allow for more meaningful access to government information. More meaningful because electronic data, unlike paper files, can be delivered instantaneously to the public through the Internet, making research easier and less time-consuming. To help elevate E-FOIA within the agencies, the report specifically calls for greater leadership from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)and from the Department of Justice (DOJ). OMB, as required by the law, provided a 1997 memorandum on E-FOIA implementation. "OMB's memorandum fell far short of what is needed to fulfill E-FOIA," McDermott says. This inaction reflects a pattern of apathy at OMB toward public access to government information, and it must change. For starters, OMB needs to be much more specific than its previous memorandum and indicate exactly what information should be included on agency web sites." DOJ, McDermott notes, has done little, other than issuing guides and examples, to push E-FOIA implementation along, despite the fact that the law gives it this responsibility. The report also identifies a number of other problems that need to be addressed if E-FOIA implementation is to be successful, such as insufficient funding and decentralized responsibility within the individual agencies, which has led to uneven compliance. "While agencies are moving quickly to provide more information online, much of it remains unorganized and difficult to find," McDermott says. "A full commitment to E-FOIA can change this, and bring a new and exciting openness to our government."