Americans deserve easy access to public information. For that to happen, executive agencies need effective procedures for responding to requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Although several agencies have adopted some good practices, most agency FOIA regulations are outdated and unfriendly to the public. To encourage agencies to improve their FOIA procedures, a goal under the president's 2nd National Action Plan on Open Government, the Center for Effective Government released a new report on Dec. 9, Best Practices for Agency Freedom of Information Act Regulations.

Oversight of how federal agencies implement the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is critical to ensuring the public has robust access to government records. The Justice Department's Office of Information Policy (OIP) recently issued its annual assessment of how well agencies are processing FOIA requests and announced plans to substantially improve its assessment measures next year. The more robust assessment tool will better hold agencies accountable for providing information to the public.