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See also: Index to FOIA Links | FOIA Text as Amended, 2007

FOIA Blog: Freedom of Information Laws and Policies,

Reverse Chronological Log with links

Covers Access to Information; Right to Know; Privacy; Transparency;

Official Secrecy; Declassified Information and related issues

Developments in the United States | United Kingdom | Global Developments

compiled by Jeremy Lewis, PhD; revised 17 Sep. '08, with news & links.
Any pages locally archived here are provided purely for individual scholarly research.
Commercial users please contact the original site to check copyright issues.
Frequently used sources: SN = Secrecy News (FAS.org = Federation of American Scientists, Secrecy Project) | AR = Access Reports |
NYT = New York Times | WP = Washington Post | FreedomInfo.org | ITSRN_L mailing list


Developments in the United States

  • Upcoming Events
  • "FOI Live 2008" international transparency conference, London, June 3, 2008.
  • New Sources or events found
  • Wikileaks.org reveals emails of Gov. Palin (R-AK), claims she bypasses AK FOI law via personal email account, 17 Sep. 2008.
  • "Circa midnight Tuesday the 16th of September (EST) activists loosely affiliated with the group 'anonymous' gained access to U.S. Republican Party Vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's Yahoo email account gov.palin@yahoo.com and passed information to Wikileaks. Governor Palin has come under criticism for using private email accounts to conduct government business and in the process avoid transparency laws."
  • US House 9 Sep. '08 passed Overclassification bill, to have National Archivist develop procedures and incentives to prevent excessive classification
  • 2008 Secrecy Report Card, 9 Sep. '08 from OpenTheGovernment.org
  • Procedures for invoking state secrets privilege -- FAS.org. "Practical Guidelines for Invoking the State Secrets Privilege," U.S.

    • Army Memorandum for File, April 24, 2001, obtained via JamesMadisonProject.org under the FOIA.  (Marginal notes are redacted under examption (b)(5), which protects the deliberative process.)  [Archive, PDF]
  • Carter Center issues Declaration on Transparency, 5 Aug. '08, in Atlanta -- from FreedomInfo.org
  • " The Atlanta Declaration and Plan of Action, serving as a framework for advancing this human right, finds that access to information is fundamental to dignity, equity and peace with justice, and that a lack of access to information disproportionately affects the poor, women and other vulnerable and marginalized societies.  The Declaration calls on all states and intergovernmental organizations to enact legislation and instruments for the exercise, full implementation and effective enforcement of this right. It further encourages all stakeholders to take concrete steps to establish, develop, protect and promote the right of access to information."
  • Sen. Patrick Leahy's statement from Congressional Record, on the 42nd anniversary of the FOIA:  http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2008/foia42.html
  • Martin J. Sherwin and Lee White, "Democracy Requires a Past", Chronicle of Higher Education, 11 June 2008 (requires subscription).  "The Bush administration does not appear to believe that our way of life depends on access to our history ..."
  • OBAMA INTRODUCES NEW TRANSPARENCY LEGISLATION: On June 3, 2008, Sen. Barack Obama introduced a bill to expand public access to information about government spending.  "The Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008," was crafted with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK).  Other co-sponsors are Sens. John McCain, and Tom Carper (D-DE).  The new bill would strengthen previous efforts by Senators Obama and Coburn to provide public access to federal grant and contract information through the USASpending.gov web site, requiring all federal contracts and the bidding process to be published online.  The provisions of the bill were outlined in a joint press release on June 3.  http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2008/06/obama-coburn.html  "People from every State in this great Nation sent us to Congress to defend their rights and stand up for their interests," Sen. Obama said in a prepared floor statement. "To do that we have to tear down the barriers that separate citizens from the democratic process and to shine a brighter light on the inner workings of Washington. This bill helps to shine that light." http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2008/s3077.html
  • Book published: What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception, by Scott McClellan (Hardcover - May 28, 2008).  Memoir, highly critical of the Bush administration's control of information, by the former Press Secretary, has received strong publicity and surprised several former members of the White House press corps as well as Dan Bartlett, communications director.  McClellan was seen as a loyal foot soldier until this book was previewed.  McClellan appeared on the usual televised discussion programs promoting the book.
  • The CIA is preparing to send its oldest files of historical worth to the National Archives.  http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/intel/nara-cia.pdf
  • Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced (April 2008) a new bill to increase transparency in government agency expenditures, to provide online public tracking of legislative earmarks, and to require the IRS to provide taxpayers with statements of total taxes paid and projected. http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2008/s2852.html
  • "When I am president, the era of Bush/Cheney secrecy will be over," said Sen. Hillary Clinton in a speech to the Newspaper Association of America on April 15.  "I will empower the federal government to operate from a presumption of openness, not secrecy... I will direct my administration to prevent needless classification of information that ought to be shared with the public."   http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2008/04/clinton041508.html
  • Sunshine Week Webcast, Wednesday March 19, 2008, at the National Press Club.
  • CGS's "First Annual Freedom of Information Day Celebration," Monday March 17, 2008, 9:00-4:00, at the Washington College of Law. Luncheon speaker: Hon. Royce C. Lamberth, U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia and former Chief Judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
  • First Amendment Center/Freedom Forum's "National FOI Day Conference," Friday March 14, 2008, at the Newseum.
  • "The next president should open up the Bush administration's record," by Steven Aftergood, FAS, Nieman Watchdog, 7 Feb. '08
  • "By now no one expects the Bush Administration to make itself accountable for its controversial and possibly illegal practices. But the next President will have a unique opportunity to reveal what has been kept hidden for the last seven years. Secrecy watchdog Steven Aftergood suggests a few questions for the presidential candidates about their willingness to disclose just what the current Administration has done."
  • State Secrets privilege (protection from introducing classified information in court cases)
  • the film:The personal story behind the 1953 Supreme Court ruling that established the state secrets privilege is explored, with other issues of government secrecy, in the new film "Secrecy" by Peter Galison and Robb Moss.  The film was well received at the Sundance Film Festival, "The question of how much we should rely on methods inconsistent with our values is intelligently and elegantly handled," -- Los Angeles Times film reviewer, Kenneth Turan.
  • the bill: Senator Kennedy introduced the State Secrets Protection Act (S. 2533) on January 22, '08.   "The Act clarifies that the courts, not the executive branch, must review the evidence and determine whether information is

    • covered by the state secrets privilege." "For example, a court may limit a party's access to hearings, court filings, and affidavits, or require counsel to have appropriate security clearances." Press release from Senator Kennedy's office to the FAS.
  • At a House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing today, witnesses discussed the feasibility and advisability of legislating reforms to the state secrets privilege.  The prepared statements from the 29 Jan. '08 hearing
  • Last week, Senators Kennedy, Specter and Leahy introduced "The State Secrets Protection Act."  The text
  • CIA's destruction of videotapes of interrogations of alleged terrorist detainees
  • Several media channels have reported the CIA's admission that it destroyed videotapes of interrogations, and that the new Attorney General Michael Mukasey has begun an investigation.  Since several lawsuits seeking records about detainees are in process, this might involve illegalities.  White House counsel Fred Fielding directed that records about the destruction be preserved.  See AR 34 (4); 9 Jan. '08, 1
  • CREW's Open Community Document Review System
  • (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) has established a documents collection that is searchable by individual pages, each with its own URL, thereby facilitating sharing.  Called the Open Community Document Review System, it contains many public records received via FOIA requests. For description, see AR 34 (4); 9 Jan. '08, 9.
  • Herbert N. Foerstel's book appears on Amazon.com and the Greenwood Press website:
    • Herbert N. Foerstel, Freedom of Information and the Right to Know: The Origins and Applications of the Freedom of Information Act. CT: Greenwood Press, (Hardcover, print on demand) prices $77-84, ISBN 0-313-28546-2
  • OPEN Government act of 2007
  • A good legislative history and commentary on the provisions is provided by Harry Hammitt in AR 34 (4); 9 Jan. '08, 1-4
  • Two brief notes are found at http://www.accessreports.com/news.html
  • "January 1, 2008, Bush Signs FOIA Amendments.  President George W. Bush signed into law the OPEN Government Act Dec. 31, marking the first time the FOIA has been amended in ten years. The new amendments restore the attorney's fees eligibility criteria that existed before the Supreme Court's Buckhannon ruling and prohibit agencies from collecting fees if they do not respond to a request within the statutory 20-day time limit. The amendments also provide a tracking system for requests and codify the positions of Chief FOIA Officer and FOIA Public Liaisons that first appeared in the Bush executive order issued in December 2005. The amendments create an ombudsman, designed to resolve disputes short of litigation, at the National Archives and clarify the status of media requesters. Finally, the amendments direct OPM to study how to encourage federal employees to choose FOIA as a career path by creating greater incentives and recognition."
  • "December 19, 2007, Congress Passes FOIA Amendments, The House passed a revised set of FOIA amendments Dec. 18 shortly after the Senate had acted as well. Although the House passed its set of amendments in March and the Senate passed a compromise bill in August, House "pay-as-you-go" rules required that body to revise the Senate bill to provide alternative funding for two provisions -- the potential increase in attorney's fees due to rejection of the Supreme Court's Buckhannon decision as the threshold standard for awarding fees, and to replace the loss of fees agencies would no longer be able to charge if they did not respond within the 20-day statutory time limit. The amendments passed the Senate by unanimous consent and the House by a voice vote. It seems likely that President Bush will sign the legislation or allow the bill to become law by failing to sign or veto it before the upcoming congressional recess."
  • Legislative history summary, from http://www.wcl.american.edu/lawandgov/cgs/about.cfm
  • "Several bills were considered during the 110th Congress prior to enactment of the 2007 FOIA Amendments. One, H.R. 1309, was passed by the House on March 14. Another, S. 849, was passed by the Senate on August 3. It was reintroduced in revised form as S. 2427 on December 4 and then was modified and introduced on December 14 as S. 2488 -- which was passed by the Senate on that same day and then was passed by the House on December 18. This bill was signed into law on the last possible day before it would have become law automatically under Art. I, Sec. 7 of the Constitution, on December 31, 2007."
  • FOIA Conference on the 2007 FOIA Amendments, Collaboration on Government Secrecy ("CGS"), American University Washington College of Law, January 16, 2008, outline
  • OPEN Government Act, text, National Security Archive, PDF [Local, PDDF]
  • "President Bush Signs FOIA Reform Bill", by Wade-Hahn Chan, FCW.com, Federal Computer Week, 2 Jan. 2008
  • "A FOIA face-lift: Proponents call it the first major FOIA reform bill in a decade," By Adam Chandler, FWC.com, August 13, 2007
  • Incorrect AP report on content of Act, widely reprinted, in USA Today.
  • President Bush Signs S. 2488, the OPEN government act of 2007, into Law, http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2007/12/wh123107.html
    • "The White House, President George W. Bush
    For Immediate Release
    Office of the Press Secretary
    December 31, 2007
    President Bush Signs S. 2488 into Law
    On Monday, December 31, 2007, the President signed into law: S. 2488, the "Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act of 2007," which amends the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by: (1) establishing a definition of "a representative of the news media;" (2) directing that required attorney fees be paid from an agency's own appropriation rather than from the Judgment Fund; (3) prohibiting an agency from assessing certain fees if it fails to comply with FOIA deadlines; and (4) establishing an Office of Government Information Services in the National Archives and Records Administration to review agency compliance with FOIA."
  • CONGRESS APPROVES FOIA REFORM BILL - from FAS.org, Secrecy News newsletter by Steve Aftergood, 20 Dec. 2007
  • Congressional Documents on Secrecy and Security, 2007, indexed at FAS.org
  • Presidential Control of Information: "A Tighter Ship at Justice: Michael Mukasey limits political contacts." Washington Post, Saturday, December 29, 2007; A18. In contrast to his predecessor, new Attorney General sharply limits the number of DOJ staff who can discuss cases with WHS -- except for counter-terrorism cases.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122802571_pf.html
  • Privacy and music file sharing: article in NY Times about University of Oregon rebuffing RIAA demands for ID of students using file-sharing of music files. Discusses widespread settlements elsewhere.
  • ADAM LIPTAK, In the Fight Over Piracy, a Rare Stand for Privacy, December 31, 2007.  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/us/31bar.html
  • NASA survey of pilots shows near misses are more common than reported, according to records released under FOIA, reported on CNN, 31 Jan. 2007.
  • "NASA boss promises to reveal safety poll results.   Reversing course, NASA's administrator promised Congress on Wednesday he will publicly disclose results of an unprecedented federal aviation survey which found that aircraft near collisions, runway interference and other safety problems occur far more often than previously recognized." -- MSNBC, 31 Jan. '07. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21561639/from/ET/

    • Developments in the United Kingdom

  • 'The impact of the UK Freedom of Information Act on records management in the public sector' project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for 14 months (2008-2009). -- note received 18 June 2008
  • See https://www.ucl.ac.uk/slais/research/icarus/foi-impact/
  • "The UK Freedom of Information Act 2000 came into force in January 2005. The Act imposes significant duties and responsibilities on public authorities to give access to information. To achieve this, public authorities need to know what information they hold, manage and retrieve information effectively, deal expeditiously (within 20 days) with FOI requests, and disseminate information through a publication scheme. As was made clear in the Lord Chancellor’s Code of Practice on the management of records published in compliance with FOIA (s 46), effective records management enables authorities to meet these obligations and underpins FOI. Together with Data Protection Act 1998 and Modernising Government agenda, FOI is a significant part of the wider government agenda to increase openness, transparency, trust and accountability in the public sector. The impact of information policy and freedom of information on public services and the effectiveness of public authorities in meeting their obligations are significant factors in the accountability of government to its citizens and of concern to all."
  • "The central research question is: what has the impact of the UK Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 been on records management services in public authorities? More specifically, the project will examine:
    • (a) how well records management services prepared for and coped with the first three years of FOI implementation
    (b)what contribution records management services make to the ability of public authorities to comply with the FOI Act
    (c) how the user experience of FOI is affected by the management of records
    (d) what the implications are of FOI so far for good practice in records management."
  • "The research will seek to discover the impact of FOI and its link with records management from three perspectives:
    • 1. records managers
    2. institutional FOI policy managers
    3. FOI requesters and user communities"
  • "We aim to demonstrate how each group contributes to and benefits from the inter-relationship between records management and FOI. It will also identify examples of good practice which can be shared within the records management and public sector communities and will disseminate theoretical and policy findings to the professional, academic and public policy communities through publication."
  • "For further details please contact Dr Elizabeth Shepherd, e.shepherd@ucl.ac.uk, or Dr Alice Stevenson (Research associate) alice.stevenson@ucl.ac.uk"
  • Prince Harry, deployed as 2d Lt., combat air controller in Afghanistan, is withdrawn following exposure in Australia and via the Drudge Report (on web) of his location.  The British media had for ten weeks of deployment (and months beforehand) respected an agreement of access to the prince while embargoing publication until after he left.
  • BBC report: Harry Withdrawn from Afghanistan
  • BBC: Prince Harry on Afghan Front line
  • "Chief of the General Staff Sir Richard Dannatt, who is head of the British Army, said he was disappointed the news had leaked.  In a statement, he said: "I am very disappointed that foreign websites have decided to run this story without consulting us.  This is in stark contrast to the highly responsible attitude that the whole of the UK print and broadcast media, along with a small number overseas, who have entered into an understanding with us over the coverage of Prince Harry on operations.""
  • Transparency of parliamentary staff expenditures is called for, would expose large payments to families of some MPs, as staff in no-show jobs.  Prompted by scandal.
  • "Derek Conway facing police investigation," By Robert Winnett, Deputy Political Editor, Daily Telegraph, 30 Jan. '08

    • Global Developments