The Most Wanted Government Documents
The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) and OpenTheGovernment.org have released their report, Show Us the Data: The Most Wanted Government Documents (pdf, 428kb), based on the results of their latest online survey to identify the most eagerly sought pieces of hidden government information.
At the top of their wish list of the “Top Ten Most Wanted Government Documents” is public access to the reports of the Congressional Research Service (CRS), a topic this blog discussed earlier this month. The CDT/OpenTheGovernment.org report said that CRS Reports were “the only document to make the Most Wanted list all three times the survey was undertaken. The public has made clear, repeatedly, the need to have access to all reports from CRS, the authoritative source. Congress should make CRS release these reports to the public proactively and directly.”
Here is the complete Top Ten most wanted list:
1. Public Access to All Congressional Research Service Reports
2. Information About the Use of TARP and Bailout Funds
3. Open and Accessible Federal Court Documents Through the PACER System
4. Current Contractor Projects
5. Court Settlements Involving Federal Agencies
6. Access to Comprehensive Information About Legislation and Congressional Actions via THOMAS or Public Access to Legislative Information Service
7. Online Access to Electronic Campaign Disclosures
8. Daily Schedules of the President and Cabinet Officials
9. Personal Financial Disclosures from Policymakers Across Government
10. State Medicaid Plans and Waivers
The report goes on to make several recommendations to promote open government, including the use of open formats for online information that are “accessible to all search engines and reusable by third parties,” new right-to-know policies that “require agencies to make public information available online proactively and in a timely manner,” adequate funding of transparency and open government initiatives, and better enforcement of existing openness laws.
The report also names four entities that are “on the right track” for making innovative use of online tools to deliver information to the public, and three efforts that are “moving in the right direction, but need public and government attention to fully succeed in assuring meaningful public access.” Those three, listed under the heading “check back – but we’re optimistic,” are:
~ Recovery.gov, created by the Obama White House to allow the public to track spending and monitor progress under the so-called “stimulus” bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act;
~ A proposed Data.gov, which the report says could advance “the idea of a centralized repository for all feeds of government information and the ability to bulk download federal data;” and
~ Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memos from the Justice Department, a hidden collection that received fresh attention in early March when the Justice Department released nine previously secret OLC memos from the Bush Administration. “These memos would have been on the Ten Most Wanted list, but in the time since this survey was launched, the Obama Administration has released some key opinions from the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) that were used to justify torture. Given this move in the right direction, we have instead included these memos in the ‘Check Back’ section,” the report said. “[W]e are encouraged that the Obama administration is taking a new look at whether this information should be secret.”