Happy open government new year
Posted by Jacque on January 1st, 2008
After a lot of speculation about the possible fate of a law toughening the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), President Bush signed it Monday without comment.
The Washington Post reports that the legislation creates a system for the media and public to track the status of their FOIA requests which agencies are required to meet within 20 days. It restores a presumption of a standard that orders government agencies to release information on request unless there is a finding that disclosure could do harm, reversing an order by former Attorney General John Ashcroft after the 9/11 attacks in which he instructed agencies to lean against releasing information when there was uncertainty about how doing so would affect national security.
“It amounts to a congressional pushback against the Bush administration’s movement to greater secrecy since the terrorist attacks of 2001,” states Post writer Ben Feller.
You may need to register (free) at Washingtonpost.com to view the entire article. Photo by dbking. Creative Commons license.
