Diplomat shares perspective on reading diplomatic cables released by WikiLeak

A former diplomat provides a practical guide for reading diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks with perspectives for working journalists and others on the value of the information. -db From Wired, October 7, 2011, by Daniel Serwer. Full story

New Pentagon policy favors ‘presumption in favor of disclosure’

The Defense Department has revised its policy regarding the Freedom of Information Act to include the “presumption in favor of disclosure”. The change is to promote  transparency and accountability involving the FOIA with prompt response to requests. Despite President Barack Obama’s early assurances that transparency would be a priority, the White House has come under [...]

Bay of Pigs report still under wraps

The National Security Archive is seeking a Central Intelligence Agency report on the Bay of Pigs fiasco that took nine years to write and was completed in 1983. The archive has been seeking the report for the last five and a half years and claims it is the only one of the major investigative reports [...]

DIY State Department Cable Decoder

Want to investigate the cables Wikileaks has released? The National Security Archive has posted a guide to deciphering State Department Cables that should help you interpret the lingo. How to Decipher a State Department Cable November 29, 2010 by Nate Jones This guide –originally written by Kristin Adair– might come in handy as you peruse [...]

Freedom of Information Act requests down in 2009

The Obama administration attributes a significant drop in FOIA requests in 2009 to their efforts to post more government data online. But a recent report said that less than a third of federal agencies had changed their FOIA procedures since his first day in office when President Obama ordered them to “adopt a presumption in [...]

Search continues for Bush e-mails gone missing

CREW and the National Security Archive are asking government agencies to intensify efforts to conserve e-mails as they suspect that even more Bush e-mails are missing than thought previously. -db NextGov May 17, 2010 By Aliya Sternstein The George W. Bush administration failed to archive 83 percent of e-mails for 21 days during a two-year [...]

Under Obama federal agencies still fighting record requests

The Washington Post reports that federal agencies are still balking at releasing records to the public, claiming that it would interfere with internal decision-making or compromise national security. In Obama’s first year, the number of Freedom of  Information Act lawsuits filed exceeds the number filed in each of Bush’s last two years. -DB The Washington [...]

Millions of missing Bush administration e-mails turn up

White House computer technicians discovered 22 million e-mails lost during the Bush administration. Two groups had filed Freedom of Information Act requests for the e-mails in connection to the firing of U.S. attorneys and the Valerie Plame-CIA scandal. -DB Wired December 14, 2009 By Kim Zetter White House computer technicians have found 22 million e-mails [...]

Associated Press asks federal government for greater transparency

The Associated Press chief executive officer said in testimony on Capitol Hill that the Freedom of Information Act is weakened by a section that allows Congress to write exemptions into the law that have not been vetted by public discussion or subject to judicial review. -DB JURIST October 1, 2009 By Andrew Morgan Associated Press [...]