President Obama: A “presumption of openness”
What does President Obama think about government transparency?
The three principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration form the cornerstone of an open government. Transparency promotes accountability by providing the public with information about what the Government is doing. Participation allows members of the public to contribute ideas and expertise so that their government can make policies with the benefit of information that is widely dispersed in society. Collaboration improves the effectiveness of Government by encouraging partnerships and cooperation within the Federal Government, across levels of government, and between the Government and private institutions.
President Obama announced his Open Government Directive yesterday:
Directive #1: Publish Government Information Online
Agencies shall respect the presumption of openness by publishing information online (in addition to any other planned or mandated publication methods) and by preserving and maintaining electronic information, consistent with the Federal Records Act and other applicable law and policy. Timely publication of information is an essential component of transparency.
Directive #2: Improve the Quality of Government Information
To improve the quality of government information available to the public, senior leaders should make certain that the information conforms to OMB guidance on information quality. Within 45 days, each agency, in consultation with OMB, shall designate a high-level senior official to be accountable for the quality and objectivity and that adequate systems and processes are in place within the agencies to promote such conformity.
Directive #3: Create and Institutionalize a Culture of Open Government
To create an unprecedented and sustained level of openness and accountability in every agency, senior leaders should strive to incorporate the values of transparency, participation, and collaboration into the ongoing work of their agency. Achieving a more open government will require the various professional disciplines within the Government – such as policy, legal, procurement, finance, and technology operations – to work together to define and to develop open government solutions. Integration of various disciplines facilitates organization-wide and lasting change in the way that Government works.
Directive #4: Create an Enabling Policy Framework for Open Government
Emerging technologies open new forms of communication between a government and the people. It is important that policies evolve to realize the potential of technology for open government.
Within 60 days, President Obama’s Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra, and federal Chief Technology Officer, Aneesh Chopra, will launch a dashboard designed to hold agencies accountable for meeting milestones under the directive.
Read the full OGI Directive on the White House Web site.
[...] now on, records produced at every level of government should be published on the Internet with a presumption of openness, in “complete, primary, timely, accessible, machine processable, non-discriminatory, [...]