Blog Posts and Analysis / Open, Accountable Government

Secrecy Hinders Progress of Terrorism Cases

The secrecy of the government's counterterrorism efforts is impeding the progress of bringing suspected terrorists to trial. In reports from The New York Times and The Washington Post, secret government programs and secret court procedures have slowed cases involving suspected and convicted terrorists.

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FedSpending 3.0 Goes Public

On Nov. 29, OMB Watch launched the third upgrade of its FedSpending.org website, which allows the public to search federal spending data, since the site was created a year ago. The new version includes approximately $16.8 trillion in spending data, including annual spending from FY 2000 through FY 2006 for both contracts and federal assistance, with partial contracts data for FY 2007. Major feature upgrades of this version include mapping, expandable summary tables and a more powerful "SuperSearch."

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States Sue EPA for Reduced Reporting on Toxics

Twelve states are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the December 2006 regulation that weakened the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, leading the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Nov. 28. Joining the suit are attorneys general from Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey and Vermont, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

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States Average a D-Minus on Disclosure

A new report by Good Jobs First finds that states have not kept up with technology in creating certain disclosure systems, and in some cases actively resist advances. The State of State Disclosure analyzed state websites for publicly available data on economic development subsidies, state procurement contracts and lobbying activities. Connecticut scored the highest, with an average of 84 percent, but more than half of the states received failing grades, placing the average score at 60 percent, a D-minus.

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Secrecy for Farm Animals

The Senate Agriculture Committee approved a bill in late October that would create a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exemption for records in the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Open government advocates strongly oppose the exemption and see it as a violation of the public's right to access information regarding food safety.

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Toxic Chemicals R Us

All 35 participants tested positive for three toxic chemical groups in a study conducted by the Commonweal Biomonitoring Resource Center and the Body Burden Working Group. The report on the study, Is It In Us?: Chemical Contamination in our Bodies, released Nov. 8, is the first multi-state, multi-organizational effort to evaluate the presence of this particular combination of chemicals in Americans.

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Congress Reforming Government Surveillance Authority

Legislation to reform expansive surveillance authority moved forward in both the House and the Senate recently. The House passed the RESTORE Act (H.R. 3773), which would reform the Protect America Act (PAA), passed in haste before Congress's August recess. The Senate Judiciary Committee narrowly passed the FISA Amendments Act of 2007 (S. 2248) without telecom immunity provisions that were included in the Senate Intelligence Committee bill, setting up a confusing situation that makes it unclear which version will be sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

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