FOIA Updated after a decade
Congress on Tuesday took steps to open up the secrecy of the Bush administration since Sept. 11, 2001, by passing legislation to increase the strength of the federal Freedom of Information Act. The legislation also increases penalties levied on agencies that do not comply with FOIA laws.
In the newspaper business, we rely on the Freedom of Information Act on a near daily basis. It is what allows us access to police and fire department reports; it keeps politicians and other public figures from discussing public business in secrecy; it ensures the free, open government we in the newspaper business have relied on for more than 40 years. But one misconception many have is that the FOIA is only for the press. It isn't. It is a law for citizens so that they can be informed about what the government is doing for them, with their tax dollars.
The Bush administration hasn't said whether or not President Bush will sign the act into law, but if Bush doesn't veto it, the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act (OPEN) could become law without his signature next week when the congressional recess begins, which would allow him to save face without taking too much criticism from the GOP.
The bill will require government agencies to establish FOIA offices with chief officers to mediate disputes with the public as an alternative to litigation. It will also require agencies to cite laws that allow certain documents to be redacted, containing fields that are blacked out.
The act also adds provisions making more government documents held by private contractors available. Something tells us Halliburton and Blackwater will be receiving many new FOIA requests.
The main purpose of the act was to reverse an order given by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to restrict giving out public information if agencies believed it would affect national security, an excuse media has received more frequently since the attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon. Now agencies must have evidence to support the claim that releasing certain documents could cause harm to national security.
Under the new bill, if it becomes law, tracking numbers will be assigned to FOIA requests, and media and members of the public will have access to Web sites and telephone hot lines where they can check the status of their request.
The true benefit of this bill, though, is that it will pull back the curtains on our federal government, which has become quite secretive under the present administration.
Government has been proven not to work well when decisions are being made behind closed doors. Politicians would then be doing things to their satisfaction, not ours. There is nothing more fundamental than the public's right to know. It is how our representative democracy works. Without it, we may as well live in a dictatorship. Much like the institutional mechanism of checks and balances it prevents abuse by all branches of government.
While the new act isn't perfect, it is a step in the right direction.
Rick Blum of the Sunshine in Government Initiative said, "After years of growing government secrecy, (Tuesday's) vote reaffirms the public's fundamental right to know."
We couldn't agree more.