Does Obama Have A 'Credibility Gap' On Afghanistan?
President Barack Obama is still working on his big decision: what to do about the Afghanistan war? On Wednesday, he held another Situation Room strate...
President Barack Obama is still working on his big decision: what to do about the Afghanistan war? On Wednesday, he held another Situation Room strate...
Newsweek | Michael Isikoff | Posted 11.03.2009 | Politics
When Attorney General Eric Holder invoked the "state secrets" privilege to quash a lawsuit alleging illegal National Security Agency spying last Frida...
The American Prospect | Adam Serwer | Posted 10.08.2009 | Politics
Since 2003, the ACLU has been seeking torture documents through a FOIA lawsuit. In 2005, the Southern District Court of New York ordered the governmen...
AP | LAURIE KELLMAN | Posted 09.30.2009 | Politics
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's new standards for government openness have not trickled down to some agencies, where officials have used special statutes slipped into bills to skirt the Freedom of Information Act, open government advocates said Wednesday.
Efforts to strengthen the 42-year-old law "have been hampered by the increasing use of legislative exemptions that are often sneaked into legislation without debate or public scrutiny," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said.
News organizations and media groups said new legislation was needed to limit the information agencies may keep secret and for how long.
"The secrecy reflex at some agencies remains firmly in place," said Tom Curley, president and chief executive of The Associated Press. And FOIA still contains relatively weak penalties for those that don't meet their disclosure obligations, he said.
"We appreciate the change in policy direction, but the change hasn't yet reached the street," said Curley, testifying on behalf of the Sunshine in Government Initiative, a coalition of media groups.
Chad Dobson | Posted 07.24.2009 | Business
Over the past five months, President Obama has made great strides in improving transparency within the USG. Mr. Zoellick and his team of experts over at the World Bank could stand to learn a thing or two from the U.S. Government.
Newsweek | Michael Isikoff | Posted 07.21.2009 | Politics
As a senator, Barack Obama denounced the Bush administration for holding "secret energy meetings" with oil executives at the White House. But last wee...
Michael Klein | Posted 05.09.2009 | Politics
When lobbying happens, and it is the daily grist of the government mill, the press and public are left in the dark, until if ever something leaks. The president has the power to fix this.
The Hill | Posted 04.27.2009 | Politics
As critics slam the administration's Recovery.gov website for a lack of accessible data, a private company has launched a rival -- Recovery.com. Onvi...
Ari Melber | Posted 04.19.2009 | Politics
Local events used to be the only way for a president to hear directly from citizens, but network technology has opened up our civic possibilities. It's past time we used these tools to open up the Presidency.
Katrina vanden Heuvel | Posted 04.19.2009 | Politics
Barack Obama's pledged to make his administration "the most open and transparent in history." This week we are launching a new project to continue that effort: "Ask the President."
Craig Newmark | Posted 04.03.2009 | Media
The previous Administration told us they weren't interested in feedback from Americans, and followed through. The Obama team is starting from nothing, and building a team which listens to people and will act.
Los Angeles Times | Posted 03.28.2009 | Politics
The website created by the Obama administration to help taxpayers follow the money -- www.recovery.gov -- is becoming a new Internet sensation....
Craig Newmark | Posted 02.24.2009 | Politics
Gillibrand has a lot more going for her than I thought, she's a genuine practitioner of openness and transparency.
USA Today | Posted 02.23.2009 | Politics
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs clashed with reporters Thursday over anonymous sources and access to President Obama, just one day after Obam...
Ronald B. Robinson | Posted 02.23.2009 | Media
The same media that is creating a negative impression of President Obama is saying little about the outgoing administration's widespread destruction of official government records.
Geoffrey R. Stone | Posted 02.21.2009 | Politics
Apart from a generally more open approach to executive transparency and accountability, I have four specific policy recommendations.
HuffingtonPost.com | Sam Stein | Posted 01.29.2009 | Politics
The Obama transition rolled out a new version of one of its transparency tools on Monday: an updated website that allows interested observers to more ...
Chicago Sun-Times | Posted 01.29.2009 | Politics
The Obama team, pledging the ''most open and transparent transition in history,'' gets and ''A'' for disclosing donors to the Jan. 20 inauguration and...
Craig Newmark | Posted 01.22.2009 | Media
Looks like the folks who run Federal web sites got the idea of more effective and honest government years ago, but didn't get heard 'til recently.
Talking Points Memo | Posted 01.10.2009 | Politics
This is pretty interesting: An Obama aide points out to us that the Obama transition team has just rolled out an innovative new feature on its Web sit...
Ari Herzog | Posted 12.19.2008 | Politics
I still hope transparency is possible in the government, but a curious investigation led me down a path to conclude that transparency is the tip of the iceberg and change.gov is not what it seems.
HuffingtonPost.com | Katharine Zaleski | Posted 12.15.2008 | Politics
President-elect Obama's office gave the media a new way to present him as Franklin Roosevelt 2.0 by announcing Friday that it will be posting weekly a...
Frank Naif | Posted 11.13.2008 | Home
Amazingly, McCain does not recognize secrecy and sole-source contracting as problems in need of urgent resolution and has proposed an even more adventuristic approach to intelligence.
Politico | Posted 10.13.2008 | Politics
Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) plans to release 10 years of his tax returns on Friday morning, pressuring his Republican counterpart, Alaska Gov. Sarah Pa...
Mother Jones | David Corn | Posted 11.12.2009 | Politics