White House, Under Attack for Secrecy, Issues Transparency Report

Under fire from all sides for excessive secrecy, the Obama administration has just issued a status report touting its "open government" achievements. The report came as Obama's White House continued to fight in court to maintain secrecy about how it formed its scientific openness policy.

The Society of Environmental Journalists has criticized the Obama Environmental Protection Agency for interposing political appointees between reporters and agency scientists.

One assessment of the report came from the Federation of American Scientists' long-time secrecy watchdog, Steven Aftergood.

Aftergood wrote that the report "downplays or overlooks many of the Administration’s principal achievements  in reducing inappropriate secrecy.  At the same time, it fails to acknowledge the major defects of the openness program to date.  And so it presents a muddled picture of the state of open government, while providing a poor guide to future policy."

• "The Obama Administration's Commitment to Open Government: A Status Report," White House, Sept. 16, 2011.
• "An Ambivalent White House Report on Open Government," Secrecy News, Federation of American Scientists, Sept. 19, 2011, by Steven Aftergood.