Freedom of Information at the Peace Corps
This week, I have had much occasion to meditate on the Obama administration's approach to openness in government. As a result, I have decided to put together a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for a wide range of Peace Corps records, which I would like to be able to review and comment on publicly, and to invite others to do likewise. From experience on my own path, accountability is only possible through transparency, and this has become a basic premise that is central to my own commitment to open-source living.
So it was a great relief to see that the first Executive Order of Obama's first day in office was this: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Transparency_and_Open_Government/
In it, President Obama says:
My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.
In President Obama's next official order as our President, he says about FOIA, there is to be a new 'presumption of disclosure', described here beautifully:
Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears. Nondisclosure should never be based on an effort to protect the personal interests of Government officials at the expense of those they are supposed to serve.
OMB Director Peter Orszag's supporting memo on how each Agency is to carry out such a policy is at http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/documents/open-government-directive
In it, he articulates three interrelated principles:
The three principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration form the cornerstone of an open government. Transparency promotes accountability by providing the public with information about what the Government is doing. Participation allows members of the public to contribute ideas and expertise so that their government can make policies with the benefit of information that is widely dispersed in society. Collaboration improves the effectiveness of Government by encouraging partnerships and cooperation within the Federal Government, across levels of government, and between the Government and private institutions.
And he directs, in a good deal of detail, that all Agencies to do the following:
- Publish Government Information Online
- Improve the Quality of Government Information
- Create and Institutionalize a Culture of Open Government
- Create an Enabling Policy Framework for Open Government
The Peace Corps has begun to work in this direction, and I look forward to participating in the process of opening up the Peace Corps under this Administration along these lines all the way to an 'unprecedented level of openness' -- acting both as a concerned private citizen and as a trusted public servant.
Look for me to publish the FOIA request I make online sometime next week, and the results of it as soon as they are made available, and to help get the systems in place at the Agency to do so on an ongoing basis.
