200+ Organizations, Individuals Press Obama and Congress on Government Openness Issues

PRESS RELEASE
--For Immediate Release--
November 12, 2008

Contact: Brian Gumm, (202) 683-4812, bgumm@ombwatch.org [1]
Sean Moulton, (202) 234-8494, smoulton@ombwatch.org [2]

200+ Organizations, Individuals Press Obama and Congress on Government Openness Issues

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12, 2008—Today, more than 240 individuals and organizations called on President-elect Barack Obama and the 111th Congress to act on a series of government openness recommendations. The recommendations are included in a report from the 21st Century Right to Know Project, titled Moving Toward a 21st Century Right-to-Know Agenda: Recommendations to President-elect Obama and Congress.

Seventy recommendations urge the new president and the incoming Congress to act quickly on a number of key government openness issues while encouraging a more systemic, longer-term approach to a variety of other transparency problems that plague the federal government. Recommendations needing urgent attention are grouped into a "First 100 Days" chapter. Others are sorted into three additional chapters: National Security and Secrecy; Usability of Information; and Creating a Government Environment for Transparency.

Gary D. Bass, Executive Director of OMB Watch and one of the key people involved in the project and the report, said, "Taken in total, the recommendations in this report propose a transformational role for government. The report calls for reconnecting our government with all of us, 'We, the people.'" Bass continued, "It calls on government to move its methods for serving the public's right to know into the 21st century. And it calls on government to make itself more open than any past administration in order to rebuild trust and accountability."

The 21st Century Right to Know Project began in 2007. It brought together hundreds of individuals and organizations from across the country to hammer out possible solutions to what all involved saw as intolerable levels of secrecy in the federal government. These people also identified ways of bringing government into the 21st century with the use of interactive technologies.

Participants included good government groups, professional associations, traditional reporters, bloggers, unions, representatives of the philanthropic community, technology experts, and members of academia. In an unprecedented manner, the project brought together conservatives, libertarians, and progressives. These recommendations are a demonstration that government transparency is neither a left nor a right issue. It's an American issue.

"The efforts leading to this report prove that openness is a goal for individuals and organizations across ideological and partisan lines," said Patrice McDermott, Director of OpenTheGoverment.org and one of the lead participants in the project. "These recommendations provide a road map for the Obama administration and all of us working together to restore trust that our government is operating in an open and accountable manner."

Project director Sean Moulton, OMB Watch's Director of Information Policy, noted, "Those who took part in this project envision a government where our primary vehicles for public access, such as the Freedom of Information Act and whistleblower laws, become vehicles of last resort. Instead, federal agencies should proactively disseminate information to the public in timely, easy-to-find, and searchable formats." He concluded, "President Obama and Congress must act decisively to achieve this vision."

These recommendations were the product of a collaborative effort. Development of key sections of the report were overseen by Meredith Fuchs of the National Security Archive, Ari Schwartz of the Center for Democracy and Technology, and McDermott.

The recommendations are available online at / [3] (direct link to PDF: //21strtkrecs.pdf [4]).

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OMB Watch convened and managed the work of the 21st Century Right to Know Project. OMB Watch is a nonprofit government watchdog organization dedicated to promoting government accountability, citizen participation in public policy decisions, and the use of fiscal and regulatory policy to serve the public interest.