Obama administration praised for commitment to transparency

While the Obama administration was praised for its initiatives on open government, speakers at the American University law school’s conference on transparency expressed frustration at the continued lack of access to useable government data. -db The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press January 21, 2011 By Rachel Costello Leading experts on transparency issues and [...]

Security tightening under WikiLeaks pressure

In response to recent breaches in security and WikiLeak’s release of classified documents, the Obama administration has issued a memorandum calling for government agencies to assess their information policies and tighten security. -db Secrecy News Commentary January 4, 2011 By Steven Aftergood The Obama Administration is moving to increase the security of classified information in [...]

Federal government tells employees not to look at classified WikiLeak documents

The general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget issued a reminder to government employees and contractor that they had an obligation to maintain the secrecy of the classified information that WikiLeaks posted and should refrain from reading it. -db NextGov December 6, 2010 By Brian Kalish The White House and federal agencies reminded [...]

U.S. government looking to charge Wikileaks founder with espionage

The Justice Department and Pentagon are investigating possible charges against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange for violating the Espionage Act of 1917 in releasing hundreds of classified documents. -db Washington Post November 30, 2010 By Ellen Nakashima and Jerry Markon Federal authorities are investigating whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange violated criminal laws in the group’s release [...]

U.S. agency orders scrutiny of procedures for protecting sensitive information afterWikileaks release of classified documents

The Office of Management and Budget has asked all U.S. agency and department heads to evaluate procedures for protecting classified data in the wake of this weekend’s Wikileaks release of classified government documents. -db Computerworld November 29, 2010 By Jaikumar Vijayan The release of thousands of pages of classified U.S. government information over the weekend [...]

Federal transparency: Changes in administration raise questions

Transparency advocates are wondering if recent changes in Obama administration management mean that Obama is stepping back from his commitment to open government. -db NextGov August 16, 2010 By Aliya Sternstein As the Obama administration gently pushes agencies to follow their transparency plans, recent changes in key management positions at the White House have watchdog groups [...]

Performance reviews of federal contractors go online

A new law requires the Office of Management and Budget to publish contractor integrity information online. -db NextGov August 4, 2010 By Aliya Sternstein A bill President Obama recently signed requires the Office of Management and Budget to disclose on a public website contractor integrity information housed in a new vendor performance database, reversing a [...]

Serious gaps found in government reporting of federal spending on economic stimulus

Government auditors revealed that the website tracking the $1 trillion in federal contracts for the economic stimulus package has unreliable data or serious omissions. -db The Los Angeles Times March 13, 2010 By Peter Nicholas WASHINGTON, D.C. – When he was a senator, Barack Obama pushed through a law setting up a kind of “Google-for-government” [...]

Transparency experts advising patience over Obama open government initiative

Federal agencies easily met the first deadline in the Obama open government initiative, but the next steps for improving transparency and getting public feedback will take longer say open government experts. -db Federal Times March 10, 2010 By Gregg Calstrom The first steps were easy: Most agencies met the first deadline of President Obama’s December directive [...]

Obama administration wants carrot method to promote open government

The Obama administration announced that it wants to use prizes and challenges to promote open government in federal agencies. -db Secrrecy News Federation of American Scientists March 11, 2010 By Steven Aftergood Executive branch agencies should “increase the use of prizes and challenges as tools for promoting open government,” the White House Office of Management [...]

Obama administration balks at releasing statistics online

In accordance with new government directives on transparency, federal agencies sent the Office of Management and Budget nearly 300 data sets on Jan. 22, but the Obama administration has withheld a number of the sets. -db NextGov January 27, 2010 By Aliya Sternstein The Obama administration has declined to post, and in some cases has [...]