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Obama record on FOIA: Slight improvement at best

It has been almost three years since Barack Obama's inauguration and the debate continues to rage about whether the president has lived up to his first-day promise to maintain an “unprecedented level of openness in government.” He got off to a good start, issuing a memo that overturned a Bush administration order and required federal agencies to adopt a presumption of disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. But how has the federal bureaucracy responded? Has the administration backed up its promises with action? Is the government more transparent now than it was during George W. Bush's administration?

It has been almost three years since Barack Obama's inauguration and the debate continues to rage about whether the president has lived up to his first-day promise to maintain an “unprecedented level of openness in government.” He got off to a good start, issuing a memo that overturned a Bush administration order and required federal agencies to adopt a presumption of disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. But how has the federal bureaucracy responded? Has the administration backed up its promises with action? Is the government more transparent now than it was during George W. Bush's administration?

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and Openthegovernment.org are the latest organizations to try to answer these questions. The two nonprofits issued a joint report last week that reviews several aspects of FOIA compliance by the 15 largest independent agencies and cabinet-level departments. Their answer appears to be that the improvement has been slight, at best.

According to the report , data currently being reported by the various agencies still doesn't paint a clear picture regarding FOIA processing. Nevertheless, based on what has been presented to date, the report concludes that agencies are processing more requests — there was an 8 percent increase between 2008 and 2010 — although they have not kept up with the increase in the total number of requests, which has surged by 11 percent in the same time period. In addition, there has been a significant uptick in the number of FOIA denials, with 33 percent more exemptions invoked in 2010 than 2008. 

The report also makes several recommendations about potential improvements in the FOIA process. ASNE and its allies in the Sunshine in Government Initiative are pleased to have this report and intend to use it to continue the seemingly never-ending battle for FOIA reform.

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