The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) continued its challenge against the CIA’s withholding of information on the agency’s use of drones to carry out “targeted killings.” The case centers on whether it is lawful for the CIA to “refuse to confirm or deny the existence of records about a program that has already been acknowledged and discussed by the President, the then-CIA director and many other government officials in scores of public statements.” In this instance, the court has allowed the CIA to give what is called a Glomar response and “neither confirm or deny” the records exist.

Ron Wyden and Mark Udall have been waging a lonely battle to make public information about the Justice Department’s interpretation of the Patriot Act, which they claim violates civil liberties in as-yet undisclosed ways. They tried to force this into the public sphere on the Senate floor. Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein promised hearings that never materialized.

Wyden and Udall continue to press the issue and force it into the open.

The Obama administration has come to be regarded as being deceitful on policies of openness and transparency; and in many cases, worse on freedom of information than the Bush Administration. That is something government officials have had to confront during Sunshine Week, as they try to celebrate freedom of information and open government.

News media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others will be promoting discussion all week on open government and freedom of information. The discussion will be a part of Sunshine Week, a national initiative launched in March 2005 by the American Society of News Editors. We’ll be covering the events at The Dissenter.

As part of a follow-up from the CIA’s destruction of torture videotapes, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been working to force the CIA to release cables that describe how the agency used waterboarding. The asserts the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit should not induce the release of documents because waterboarding involves “intelligence methods” that should not be revealed. But, the ACLU disputes that argument and points out waterboarding is illegal so the cables should not be protected from release.

A consensus has emerged during the presidency of Barack Obama. His administration is increasingly regarded as the worst on issues related to freedom of information and transparency. FOIA attorney, Katherine Mayer, says, “Obama is the sixth administration that’s been in office since I’ve been doing Freedom of Information Act work. … It’s kind of shocking to me to say this, but of the six, this administration is the worst on FOIA issues. The worst. There’s just no question about it.”

After months spent occupying McPherson Square, National Park Service police clad in riot gear arrived on February 4 to inspect the occupation and bring it into “compliance” with park regulations. Park Service police began to seize and destroy occupiers’ property. A slow-motion eviction unfolded as a team of Park Service workers wearing hazmat suits moved through the park removing tents. By 6:30 pm, Occupy DC participants had been entirely run out of the park.

FOIA was passed by Congress in 1966 and implemented in 1967, and while it has been amended 3 times since, it remains a strong tool of transparency for the federal government, and one that many states have mimicked by passing similar laws. While the history of how and why this law came into being is a current area of academic research for me, the ability to effectively utilize FOIA to enhance accountability and transparency has become necessary.

Political activists were rightfully outraged when the Bush administration fought tooth-and-nail to keep the minutes of Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy task force secret. Now, aside from the good people at SACE, who else is working to uncloak an equally secretive–and equally offensive–Obama energy deal?

During the BP oil disaster, the government would generally back up BP’s estimates of flow data, and only changed when they changed. Now we learn from Kate Sheppard that the White House actually leaned on their own scientists to lowball the amount of oil being released from the busted well.