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The Obama Administration Should be Measured by its Results, Not its Promises

By Melanie Sloan

This afternoon, several non-profit organizations dedicated to government transparency groups and organizers of the National Freedom of Information Day Conference are giving President Obama an award for “his deep commitment to an open and transparent government — of, by, and for the people.”

In CREW’s view, praising the president for his “commitment” to transparency would have been appropriate during his first six months in office when he promised to oversee the most transparent administration in history. Two years into his term, however, CREW is more interested in results. But the results aren’t so great.

The Associated Press studied the way 36 federal agencies responded to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and found the Obama administration has taken action on fewer Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests even as more people requested information. In at least one of every three requests, the administration refused to release requested records.  The government frequently refused to expedite particularly newsworthy requests and nearly half the agencies AP examined took longer to give out records last year than during the previous year.    

The National Security Archive also issued a report giving the Obama administration middling marks. According to the Archive, barely half of federal agencies and departments are abiding by President Obama’s orders to “adopt a presumption in favor” of granting FOIA requests.
                
AP found the news was not all bad. Agencies less frequently withheld records under the “deliberative process” exemption, which allows officials to avoid disclosing information about behind the scenes decision-making. The exception was the Department of Homeland Security, which regularly invoked the exemption.

Ironically, the Department of Justice used Sunshine Week to laud itself for its transparency efforts. Associate Attorney General Tom Perrill said, “the value of transparency comes from the belief that sunlight is the best disinfectant, and the recognition that we had better do our best, and act in a way that would make the public proud if they saw everything we did.”

In CREW’s experience, however, there is no agency more dedicated to maintaining secrecy than the Department of Justice. One example: our FOIA lawsuit for records of the FBI’s interviews with Vice President Dick Cheney regarding the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson’s covert identity. We initiated the lawsuit under President Bush and continued it under President Obama. It took an order by a federal judge for the administration to eventually release the notes. DOJ has blocked many other CREW records requests as well and we regularly fight the department in court.

Glossing over the administration’s lackluster record by claiming the award is for the president’s “commitment” to transparency is misguided. It is incumbent upon those of us in the open government community to be transparent ourselves. The administration hasn’t delivered on its promises and the president should be called out for that, not praised.