"The Restore Open Government Act of 2004" (H.R. 5073), would restore the presumption that agencies release requested documents absent an identified harm under FOIA. Further, the bill would narrow the secrets that businesses could keep when submitting reports on problems and vulnerabilities in our transportation, energy and communications infrastructure ("critical infrastructure information" or CII) to the Department of Homeland Security. It reverses the Bush executive order (E.O. 13233) on presidential records, wherein former presidents may veto requests to release their administration's papers. The bill would also ensure openness when the president obtains advice through committees such as Vice President Cheney's energy policy task force.
The bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC).
To learn more about these issues, visit the OpenTheGovernment.org Right to Know Resource Center, which points to backgrounders on "critical infrastructure information" and other homeland security issues. For those interested in how the federal government is using the new CII law, OMB Watch tracks how the Department of Homeland Security implements CII protections, and its impact on public health and safety.