It’s Sunshine Week, But Obama’s Transparency Record Is Cloudy

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/03/obama-transparency-clouded/

The federal bureaucracy is failing to abide by President Barack Obama’s inaugural decree that agencies “usher in a new era of open government,” according to a Monday survey by the National Security Archive.

Honoring the kickoff of Sunshine Week, the private archive located at George Washington University concluded Monday that about half of the 90 affected federal agencies “actually made concrete changes in their FOIA procedures” as ordered.

What’s more, there were 544,360 requests for information last year under the Freedom of Information Act to the 35 biggest federal agencies — 41,000 requests more than the year before. Yet the bureaucracy responded to 12,400 fewer requests than the prior year, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

“The administration refused to release any sought-after materials in more than 1-in-3 information requests, including cases when it couldn’t find records, a person refused to pay for copies or the request was determined to be improper under the law,” the AP found. “It refused more often to quickly consider information requests about subjects described as urgent or especially newsworthy. And nearly half the agencies that AP examined took longer — weeks more, in some cases — to give out records last year than during the previous year.”

More at the link --

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1. K&R

[ProSense]

2. "The federal bureaucracy is failing to abide by President Barack Obama’s inaugural decree "

There have been improvements and this kind of oversight will ensure that more is done.

The release on the survey:

Washington, D.C., March 14, 2011 - The Obama administration is only about halfway toward its promise of improving Freedom of Information responsiveness among federal agencies, according to the new Knight Open Government Survey by the National Security Archive, released today for Sunshine Week at www.nsarchive.org.

On his first day in office, January 21, 2009, President Obama issued a presidential memorandum instructing federal agencies to “usher in a new era of open government.” In March 2010, however, the 2010 Knight Open Government Survey found that only 13 out of 90 agencies had actually made concrete changes in their FOIA procedures. The resulting national headlines sparked a new White House call to all agencies to show concrete change.

This year, the 2011 Knight Open Government Survey found that a few more than half of the federal agencies have complied--up from 13 to 49. (A chart of the agencies’ responses is below.)

“At this rate, the president’s first term in office will be over by the time federal agencies do what he asked them to do on his first day in office,” commented Eric Newton, senior adviser to the president at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which funded the study. “Freedom of information laws exist to help all of us get the information we need for this open society to function. Yet government at all levels seems to have a great deal of trouble obeying its own transparency laws.”

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The Archive found significant change among the responsive agencies especially in the area of discretionary releases of information. Before the Obama proclamations, agencies withheld most drafts of internal documents, and even staff-level reports, under the 5th exemption to the FOIA that applies to “pre-decisional” or “deliberative process” information. Openness advocates had long argued that this kind of material was exactly necessary to bring the greatest transparency and accountability to government decision-making. Now, agency reporting shows declining use of the so-called “b-5” exemption, and the 2011 Knight Survey received multiple responses from the high-scoring agencies that included their own drafts and internal e-mails about how to respond to the Emanuel-Bauer memo. A standout here was the Department of the Interior, which provided copies of e-mail exchanges noting how the agency’s own IT restrictions kept FOIA officers from seeing key FOIA blogs – a problem no doubt now remedied.

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The President's directive is moving the government in the right direction, and the administration continues to move toward open government.

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3. "41,000 requests more than the year before...responded to 12,400 fewer requests than the prior year

So if the amount of agencies that followed what Obama's order said increased while the amount of information that was responded to decreased that tells me there is something seriously fucked up, no?

[ThomCat]

4. It says that they're responding to his order by interpreting it in a way

that has the opposite effect than the one supposedly intended. :(

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5. And is there anyone that needs to be held responsible for that?

[ThomCat]

6. You would think so. But this administration seems to have firm rules

that they protect their own, no matter what they do, as long as they aren't whistle-blowers.

You can do wrong, or do poorly, or fail outright, and commit criminal acts and you'll be protected from being held responsible.

The only think you absolutely must never do is the right thing. If you ever dare to shine sunlight anywhere so that anyone's blatant wrongdoing is exposed to the public, oh, this administration will move heaven and earth to persecute and prosecute you.

They'll protect anyone who does the wrong thing, but never the person who does the right thing. :(

[ProSense]

8. Not clear

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What’s more, there were 544,360 requests for information last year under the Freedom of Information Act to the 35 biggest federal agencies — 41,000 requests more than the year before. Yet the bureaucracy responded to 12,400 fewer requests than the prior year, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

“The administration refused to release any sought-after materials in more than 1-in-3 information requests, including cases when it couldn’t find records, a person refused to pay for copies or the request was determined to be improper under the law,” the AP found. “It refused more often to quickly consider information requests about subjects described as urgent or especially newsworthy. And nearly half the agencies that AP examined took longer — weeks more, in some cases — to give out records last year than during the previous year.”

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That's a fairly broad statement, and the AP offers no details as to why or what this is based on.

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10. But surely such cases existed before. So now that far more agencies follow the order

and yet far more requests are being fulfilled makes no sense. It should be far more got fulfilled this year than before.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Poor fellow has a lot on his plate. Locking up whistleblowers, keeping Gitmo open,

defending the nuclear industry, cosying up to the Chamber of Commerce and Jeb bush. Just think of effort!

[Rex]

9. He is my newest super hero - Corporate Suit.

Obama as Corporate Suit has the power to make huge oil spills 'vanish' along with pensions, 401ks and anything else that was being saved for retirement. Corporate Suit always sides with his mentor Goldman Sach Man as they open new vaults for his mentor to stroll into...just to inspect mind you, never to steal...that would be wrong, taking money from the working poor. Unthinkable. :sarcasm: