News Highlights
FAM Whistleblower Appeals His Termination; Says He Protected National Security
[Security Management, November 6, 2009]
National Counterterrorism Director argues terror fight oversight best pursued behind scenes
[Harvard Law Record, November 5, 2009]
Liberal lawmakers defy Obama on Patriot Act
[AP via Google News, November 5, 2009]
Groups Urge IP Pact Openness
[National Journal: Tech Daily Dose, November 5, 2009]
Italy convicts former CIA agents in rendition trial
[Reuters, November 5, 2009]
Open government conference sponsor takes flak over its software
[NextGov, November 4, 2009]
House Panel Feuds Over PATRIOT Act
[National Journal: Tech Daily Dose, November 4, 2009]
Buying Off Victims of Illegal Wiretapping at $3 Million a Pop...
[Firedoglake: Emptywheel, November 4, 2009]
New State Secrets Policy Yields Familiar Result
[Secrecy News, November 4, 2009; see also Obama's state secrets from Newsweek via Kansas City Star ]
Inspector General to Probe EPA Marketing of Coal Ash: Agency Promotes Coal Waste "Beneficial Use" Without Completing Risk Assessment
[Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, November 4, 2009]
Govt Lawyers Seek to Quash Rendition Lawsuit
[IPS News, November 3, 2009]
Financial Secrecy Index - USA tops the ranking
[Tax Justice Network, November 2, 2009; see also the complete results]
Of Interest
NEWS: Obama administration publicly endorses shield bill
[Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, 11.5.09]
NEWS: Online Voter Registration Draft Unveiled
[National Journal: Tech Daily Dose, 11.5.09]
REPORT: National Archives: Progress and Risks in Implementing its Electronic Records Archive Initiative
[Government Accountability Office, 11.5.09]
COMMENTARY: Who Should Monitor Corruption?
[New York Times, 11.5.09]
NEWS: Maryland Voters Test New Cryptographic Voting System
[Wired: Threat Level, 11.4.09]
NEWS: Google, Mozilla & Sunlight Announce Nationwide Government Data Hackathon
[ReadWriteWeb, 11.4.09]
NEWS: Waiting on the Shield Law
[Columbia Journalism Review, 11.4.09]
NEWS: No Sunset for Sweeping Patriot Act Powers?
[ISP News, 11.4.09]
NEWS: Promoting Plain Language
[NextGov: Tech Insider, 11.3.09]
NEWS: Italian judge to reach verdict in CIA kidnap trial
[AFP via Google News, 11.3.09]
REPORT: Then and Now: Economic Information from the Government
[Free Government Information, 11.3.09]
COMMENTARY: Electronic voting lingers on
[Washington Post: Faster Forward, 11.4.09]
Let's Reverse the Pattern of Secrecy
Concerned that our government keeps from the American public information that we need to make our families safe, secure our country and strengthen democracy, a broad-based set of organizations formed OpenTheGovernment.org. We hope you'll help.
Read our 2008 Year End Report
Read our Strategic Operational Plan
On Tuesday, September 9, OpenTheGovernment.org released the 2009 Secrecy Report Card. This years report chronicles slight decreases in secrecy across a wide spectrum of indicators in the last year of the Bush-Cheney Administration, after five years of continued expansion. For this year only, the report includes two special sections: one on fiscal transparency and one providing a quick look at the Obama Administration's openness promising policies and, in some instances, discouraging practice.
Read the press release here. Also, download the FOIA Risk Assessment Chart, an assessment of changes in FOIA practices by the Bush and Obama Administrations, and the expanded fiscal transparency section.
As part of the effort to make the federal government a more open place, OpenTheGovernment.org works with our coalition partners and other advocates to highlight important issues and correct systemic problems. Keep up with our latest:
OpenTheGovernment.org, several coalition partners, and other open government advocates, sent a letter to the National Security Advisor asking 6hat the public be given the opportunity to comment on the exact revision language of the Executive Order on classification prior its presentation to the President for final consideration. The opportunity to comment on how public input is finally translated in to policy is the true measure of the transparency, participation,and collaboration promised by the President.
Our request was denied. A September 2nd letter from General Jones states that they "believe it is essential to preserve the confidentiality of the President's deliberative process regarding these complex issues that stem from the President's constitutional authority to protect the national security."
Read the letter. page 1 and page 2.
On Friday, March 20th, OpenTheGovernment.org hosted the 4th Annual Sunshine Week National Dialogue at the Center for American Progress. The event began a great opportunity for the public to be involved in the crafting of the new Administration's open government directive.
Read transition papers on increasing transparency and strengthening oversight from OpenTheGovernment.org and all of our coalition partners here
BailoutWatch.net replaces and supplements our Bailout Transparency pages. The new site, created on behalf of the Bailout Watch Project, gives users access to the latest bailout-related news, events, analysis, useful tools, federal reports, and more - all available via RSS feed.
OpenTheGovernment.org has joined the Coalition for an Accountable Recovery, to work to ensure that economic recovery spending is transparent, accountable and effective, through detailed data and research tools on a searchable website.
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