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News release: “The 2012 Secrecy Report released today by OpenTheGovernment.org a coalition of more than 80 groups advocating for open and accountable government reveals that positive changes from the Obama administrations open government policies nevertheless appear diminished in the shadow of the Presidents bold promise of unprecedented transparency. Ultimately, though, the public needs …
News release: “The online magazine ForeignPolicy.com today published an extraordinary CIA document on the recent Iraq war which the National Security Archive obtained through a Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) request to the CIA. The document, “Misreading Intentions: Iraq’s Reaction to Inspection Created Picture of Deception,” dated January 5, 2006, blames “analyst liabilities,” such as neglecting …
Coast Guard – Legacy Vessels’ Declining Conditions Reinforce Need for More Realistic Operational Targets [Reissued on August 30, 2012], GAO-12-741, Jul 31, 2012 Freedom of Information Act, Additional Actions Can Strengthen Agency Efforts to Improve Management, GAO-12-828, Jul 31, 2012 Income Security – Overlapping Disability and Unemployment Benefits Should be Evaluated for Potential Savings, GAO-12-764, …
Summary of Agency Chief FOIA Officer Reports for 2012 and Assessment of Agency Progress in Implementing the President’s FOIA Memorandum and the Attorney General’s FOIA Guidelines With OIP Guidance for Further Improvement, August 2012 “OIP selected for the assessment seventeen milestones tied to the five key areas addressed in the Chief FOIA Officer Reports. These …
News release: “Marking the 46th anniversary of President Johnson’s signing the Freedom of Information Act, the National Security Archive [July 4, 2012] posted a compilation of 46 news headlines from the past year made possible by active and creative use of the FOIA. This representative sample, drawn from hundreds of FOIA stories reported by newspapers, …
“[June 27, 2012] the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released information revealing the existence of hundreds of previously unknown coal ash dumps nationwide. The information comes pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) by Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice. The data released…by the EPA reveal that there are at least 451 more coal ash …
News release: “The National Security Archive today is posting over 100 recently released CIA documents relating to September 11, Osama bin Laden, and U.S. counterterrorism operations. The newly-declassified records, which the Archive obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, are referred to in footnotes to the 9/11 Commission Report and present an unprecedented public resource …
Via FAS – this report by the Director, Information Security Oversight Office, National Archives, John P. Fitzpatrick “Dear Mr. President: I am pleased to submit the Information Security Oversight Offices (ISOO) Report for Fiscal Year 2011, as required by Executive Order 13526, Classified National Security Information (the Order). This report provides statistics and analysis concerning …
via LLRX – FOIA Facts: Things Requesters Should Know: FOIA expert Scott A. Hodes shares his professional experience working with FOIA Analysts, and their perspective on how they make the FOIA process smoother in regard to their relationships with requesters. This however is a double edged coin FOIA requesters can also take specific steps …
Secrecy News, Steven Aftergood: “In 2011, the US Government submitted 1,745 applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for authorization to conduct electronic surveillance or physical searches under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), according to a new annual report to Congress. Of these, 1,676 included requests for authority for perform electronic surveillance, the report …
Letters from Abbottabad: Bin Ladin Sidelined? May 03, 2012. Authors: Don Rassler, Gabriel Koehler-Derrick, Liam Collins, Muhammad al-Obaidi, Nelly Lahoud “This report is a study of 17 de-classified documents captured during the Abbottabad raid and released to the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC)/West Point. They consist of electronic letters or draft letters, totaling 175 pages in …
Via LLRX.com – Opening Government: On the Limits of FOIA and the Metaphor of Transparency – Professor Annmarie Bridy discusses the use of transparency as a metaphor for openness in government, the use of FOIA as a mechanism for ensuring such openness, and the ways in which proponents of greater public involvement in policy-making may …
