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. We've talked with experts and compiled a list of documents that government could make readily available to the public. Now we're asking the public to rank the experts' choices and suggest other documents for the list. So please go to OMB Watch’s Ten Most Wanted survey, to tell us which documents you most want. Encourage your friends and colleagues to take the survey as well. The deadline is March 31, 2004. The survey consists of two short parts. First, you'll have the chance to rate documents suggested by experts and tell us which documents you would most like government to show the public. (Our list has 19 items. You can nominate the 20th.) Second, we're asking the public to identify the biggest problems they face when trying to get information from government. What will we do with your vote? We'll announce the results in April as part of the unveiling of OpenTheGovernment.org, a new coalition that will push for more democracy and less secrecy. Then we'll push the government to release the 10 documents voted Most Wanted. So please, take a few minutes to take the survey. Please redistribute this announcement to lists you think may be appropriate. It's easy, it's quick, and it'll help open the government. Thanks for doing your part. Who We Are and Why We're Doing This The Ten Most Wanted Project 2004 is being conducted by OMB Watch and the Center for Democracy and Technology for OpenTheGovernment.org. OpenTheGovernment.org is a new, unprecedented coalition of over 30 organizations created to fight increased secrecy and promote open government. The Center for Democracy and Technology works to promote democratic values and civil liberties in the digital age. OMB Watch advances social justice, government accountability and citizen participation in federal policy decisions. If the Ten Most Wanted Project 2004 sounds familiar to you, it should. When the Center for Democracy and Technology and OMB Watch conducted the 10 Most Wanted survey a few years ago (in 1999), we came up with good results. At that time, the Supreme Court did not have a web site (but Mongolia's Supreme Court did). By the 2000 election, the new U.S. Supreme Court Web site was ready to handle the heavy demand to download the Bush v. Gore decision, allowing thousands of people from around the world to read the decisions for themselves at the time that it was published. In another victory, the 10 Most Wanted survey pushed the government to move more quickly in putting online its plans to recover endangered species. Today, the problems are bigger, and our response will be bigger as well. We have broadened the range of information the Ten Most Wanted Project will cover. We expect the results will have an even greater impact.