Blog Posts and Analysis / Open, Accountable Government

Choose the Ten Most Wanted Government Documents for 2004

What information would you most want government to show the public that the public cannot currently see? The 28 secret pages of Congress' joint inquiry into intelligence failures leading up to 9/11? The threats to community safety posed by chemical plants? How the government has used Patriot Act powers? How about a mailing address for the nation's "spy court?" OMB Watch and the Center for Democracy and Technology are looking for a few good documents, the Ten Most Wanted government documents for 2004, to be precise. And we're inviting the public to help.

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Alabama Considers FOIA Exemption for Security

The Alabama legislature recently introduced Senate Bill 205, which would exempt security information from public disclosure currently mandated under four laws. Alabama State Sen. Steve French (R-Birmingham) sponsored the bill.

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DOJ Explains CII's Impact on FOIA

The Department of Justice (DOJ) released a memo explaining the impacts of a new Critical Infrastructure Information (CII) rule on the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) throughout the federal government. The rule DOJ refers to was an interim final rule published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which restricts public disclosure and government action on voluntarily submitted information about infrastructure vulnerabilities and problems.

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U.S. Wearing Blinders on Global Warming

Ironically, just months after the business-friendly Bush administration squelched the climate change section of the Environmental Protection Agency’s report on the environment, the world’s second largest insurer released a report revealing how climate change is rising on the corporate agenda.

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FERC Claims CEII Not A Problem for Public Access

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) quietly issued a Feb. 12 notice soliciting public comments on the functions and procedures of the agency’s new restrictive information rule, Critical Energy Infrastructure Information (CEII).

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Fighting Secrecy -- And Winning

Government secrecy has undermined the public’s ability to hold our leaders accountable for keeping our country secure and community safe. Yet the government’s claims that providing citizens with information harms national security may be overblown.

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DHS Releases CII Rule

Months after receiving comments on the proposed rule, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) finally published the interim final rule for Critical Infrastructure Information (CII) in the Feb. 20 Federal Register. Although an interim final rule with a public comment period open until May 20, the rule went into effect immediately.

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