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FOIA in the news
ACLU Blog of Rights Post [Familiar Story: CIA Destroys More Tapes] (March 2, 2009):
"Back in December 2007, we learned that the CIA had destroyed two videotapes depicting the "harsh interrogation" of two detainees in U.S. custody. This morning, we learned ... the CIA has actually destroyed 92 tapes. Those tapes are directly responsive to the ACLU’s October 2003 Freedom of Information Act request asking the government to release all documents and information pertaining to the treatment of detainees held in U.S. custody overseas."The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a remarkable tool. On Wednesday, January 21st, President Obama published a memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on the broad topic of FOIA at the White House Briefing Room:
"A democracy requires accountability, and accountability requires transparency. As Justice Louis Brandeis wrote, "sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants." In our democracy, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which encourages accountability through transparency, is the most prominent expression of a profound national commitment to ensuring an open Government. At the heart of that commitment is the idea that accountability is in the interest of the Government and the citizenry alike..."Continue reading
Spring [Training], March [Blogging], et al.
Thanks so much to the editors of FGI for allowing me the extreme pleasure of blogging this month! I understand March has come in like a [don't say it] lion in many parts of the eastern United States. Well, its baseball weather here in Los Angeles and Orange Counties -- 70 degree temps with perhaps the slightest chance of rain imaginable... Throughout this wonderful month, as the Dodgers and A's toil in Spring Training, I'll do my level best to keep the FGI blog well stocked with stories of government information from across jurisdictional boundaries. It’s my pleasure! Brian Continue reading
Federal Reserve releases and withholds documents on credit crisis
As noted here before, the Federal Reserve has been reluctant to release documents about bailout money. Now according to POGO, "Governmentattic.org has posted several documents from the Federal Reserve in response to a FOIA request about the Fed's lending activities related to the credit crisis" but "the Fed was withholding over 2,000 pages of information under the (b)(4) and (b)(5) FOIA exemptions, which protect against the disclosure of "trade secrets" and "inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters."" The Fed Knows Best, Project on Government Oversight, Feb 23, 2009. Continue reading
Here is something you don’t see every day: talking NSA!
Oral History Interviews, National Security Agency. Continue reading
The Best Government Tech of the Bush Years
Wired has a list of "smart ways different federal agencies started using technology during the last eight years. It's not mind-blowing, but it's not terrible." Examples of Agencies Using Online Content and Technology to Achieve Mission and Goals (UNOFFICIAL DRAFT, November 26, 2008. Sent to Wired Magazine.) The Best Government Tech of the Bush Years, By Nicholas Thompson, Wired, January 23, 2009. Continue reading
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