On January 21, 2009, President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum that I’m hopeful will be the start of undoing much of the excessive secrecy practiced by the previous administration. The memorandum, established that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) “should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails.”
A recent CPR report, By the Stroke of the Pen: Seven Executive Orders to Launch the Obama Agenda, had recommended that President Obama take this exact step. The report also recommends additional actions that would undo other policies adopted by the Bush administration that made government less transparent. Another Presidential Memorandum, Transparency and Open Government, sets the stage for additional steps to be taken, although it does not commit the administration to adopt any specific policies to foster more transparency.
While Congress created exemptions to FOIA disclosure, it also for the most part made those exemptions discretionary, signaling that they were to be used in a manner consistent with the goal of maximum disclosure of information to the public. Nevertheless, the issue of how much information to disclose has become a political ping-pong ball between Republican and Democratic administrations. When George W. Bush took office, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a memorandum instructing agencies that the Department of Justice (DOJ) would defend decisions not to release information “unless they lack a sound legal basis or present an unwarranted risk of adverse impact on the ability of other agencies to protect other important records.” President Obama’s order reverses this policy and restores the policy followed in the Clinton administration, which also adopted a “presumption of disclosure.”
I am not sure why Republican administrations reflexively oppose open government in this context. It is true that each of the exemptions represents a decision by Congress that, on balance, keeping information secret is in the public interest despite the advantages of open government and greater transparency. But, if there is some question whether an exemption applies in a particular situation, it is more consistent with the purpose of the FOIA to decide, as President Obama decided, that “openness prevails.”
The CPR report also recommends that the President should forbid agencies from taking advantage of loopholes that limit the transparency provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), and that he should improve the transparency of regulatory review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). I have described in greater detail each of these recommendations on a previous post on CPRBlog. For now, I am encouraged by the commitment to transparency in Transparency and Open Government, the other Presidential Memorandum on government transparency, but it remains to be seen whether the administration will take these steps.
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Sidney A. Shapiro | February 2, 2009
On January 21, 2009, President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum that I’m hopeful will be the start of undoing much of the excessive secrecy practiced by the previous administration. The memorandum, established that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) “should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails.” A recent […]
Yee Huang | January 30, 2009
When analog signals for broadcast television end on February 17, one problem of the digital signal switch for televisions will remain: what to do with older televisions that are incompatible with digital signals. While the federal government is providing rebates to purchasers of converter boxes for older televisions, the boxes are simply a stopgap measure […]
Margaret Clune Giblin | January 29, 2009
This week, there’s been good news from the Obama Administration regarding climate change policy. California will likely get that waiver under the Clean Air Act allowing it to set stricter emissions standards for cars. Additionally, Lisa Jackson, the new Administrator of EPA, indicated in an e-mail (subscription required) to agency employees that the agency will […]
Holly Doremus | January 28, 2009
Cross-posted from Environment & Law. The Washington Post reports that officials at the Department of Interior ignored “key scientific findings” and the views of National Park Service officials “when they limited water flows in the Grand Canyon to optimize generation of electric power there, risking damage to the ecology of the spectacular national landmark.” […]
Shana Campbell Jones | January 28, 2009
We will restore science to its rightful place. — President Barack Obama, Inaugural Speech As Governor of Texas, I have set high standards for our public schools, and I have met those standards. — Former President George W. Bush, Aug. 2000 CNN Interview With former President Bush hightailing it back to Texas last […]
Matthew Freeman | January 27, 2009
No question about it: A new sheriff’s in town. After eight years of environmental policymaking bent around the convenience of oil companies and other polluting industries, yesterday was like a breath of fresh, clean air. And indeed, clean air is one likely outcome from the Obama Administration’s first few steps on the environment yesterday. […]
Matthew Freeman | January 27, 2009
CPR Member Scholar Nina Mendelson has a piece in today’s New York Times “Room for Debate” online feature on California’s Clean Air Act waiver request. She says President Obama’s direction to EPA that it reconsider its previous denial of the waiver (issued during the Bush Administration) “reaffirms the critical role of states as environmental leaders, […]
Rena Steinzor | January 26, 2009
This morning, the Center for Progressive Reform published a report on some of the issues that will confront President Obama’s “regulatory czar” Cass Sunstein, if, as seems likely, he is nominated and confirmed to be the director of OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. I’ve blogged on this before, and our report, Reinvigorating Protection […]
Shana Campbell Jones | January 23, 2009
When it comes to protecting the environment and human health, the difference between what the Obama Administration portends and what the Bush Administration wrought may reside in the difference between three little words: “yes, we can” versus “no we won’t.” How and when Lisa Jackson, President-elect Obama’s pick to head the EPA, tackles perchlorate will […]