President Obama just made a statement on Sunshine Week applauding the work done so far to make the government more transparent and recommitting his administration to be the most open and transparent.  The statement highlights some of the accomplishments the administration has already racked up in this area including Data.gov, Recovery.gov and Executive Order on Classification.  The President also states that while they "are proud of these accomplishment" that the "work is not done." This reality of progress being made but more still being needed is reflected in two reports released for Sunshine Week. 

President Obama just made a statement on Sunshine Week applauding the work done so far to make the government more transparent and recommitting his administration to be the most open and transparent.  The statement highlights some of the accomplishments the administration has already racked up in this area including Data.gov, Recovery.gov and Executive Order on Classification.  The President also states that while they "are proud of these accomplishment" that the "work is not done." This reality of progress being made but more still being needed is reflected in two reports released for Sunshine Week. 

The National Security Archive just released a government-wide audit on the Freedom of Information Act entitled "Sunshine and Shadows: The Clear Obama Message for Freedom of Information Meets Mixed Results."  The report notes that agencies are more aware of President Obama's new more open FOIA policies then were previously aware of the more restrictive policies under the Bush administration.  The audit also found that a number of agencies have taken steps to alter their implementation of FOIA in light of the new policies including new instructions for staff and increased training.  However, the audit found that these changes were not yet widespread among agencies, especially smaller agencies.  The recent data on the processing of FOIA requests is mostly inconclusive for many agencies.  Hopefully, as more data comes out and agencies have more time with the new policies, the evidence of progress will be become more widespread.

The Associated Press (AP) also audited major agencies' FOIA implementation and found an increased us of exemptions that seems to differ from the policy direction laid out by the President.  After reviewing the latest FOIA reports for 17 major agencies, the AP noted that use of all nine exemption categories have increased from the previous fiscal year while the number of requests have dropped.  The article does point out that multiple exemptions can be cited for a single withholding decision and so the total numbers may included increased double counting rather than an increase in the amount of information withheld. The article also noted that significant early energy has been placed on reducing backlogs and the progress appears to have been made on this front.

I applaud the administration for the progress they have made thus far.  The Obama administration has made government transparency a higher priority, and put forth more effort on the issue, then probably any previous administration.  Changing decades old policies and culture to open up the way government operates is a tremendously challenging task that will not be completed in a single year.  It may not be accomplish-able by a single administration. But if the Obama administration maintains its focus and energy on government openness, it seems we will find out just how much an administration can do.