It's interesting to read and think about how people view transparency. What some view as transparent is holding conferences, whether or not the information being presented is true. My brain would not have gone to FOIA requests but it's very interesting seeing the differences over time across presidencies. It's also interesting to look at…
It's interesting to read and think about how people view transparency. What some view as transparent is holding conferences, whether or not the information being presented is true. My brain would not have gone to FOIA requests but it's very interesting seeing the differences over time across presidencies. It's also interesting to look at official websites and what is kept and what is removed. It's also a good reminder that campaign promises are just that. It would be nice to see Congress step up and offer compromise on so many issues and when they do remind us how things should work.
I had this thought too. And it's an inherently difficult thing to objectively measure transparency. If it's the percentage of FOIA requests rejected, that's an incomplete story, because it doesn't take into account whether an administration is getting way more requests than other administrations. I think I've heard before that over-requesting can be a tactic to paint an administration as obstructive.
I think what we might need, like you're saying, get Congress involved. Get some codified laws about this somehow, so that we aren't always relying on a president's respect for norms to guide how much transparency we get. Perhaps institute a consequence for over-withholding, like when Bush hid climate change science as a response to 9/11.
It's interesting to read and think about how people view transparency. What some view as transparent is holding conferences, whether or not the information being presented is true. My brain would not have gone to FOIA requests but it's very interesting seeing the differences over time across presidencies. It's also interesting to look at official websites and what is kept and what is removed. It's also a good reminder that campaign promises are just that. It would be nice to see Congress step up and offer compromise on so many issues and when they do remind us how things should work.
I had this thought too. And it's an inherently difficult thing to objectively measure transparency. If it's the percentage of FOIA requests rejected, that's an incomplete story, because it doesn't take into account whether an administration is getting way more requests than other administrations. I think I've heard before that over-requesting can be a tactic to paint an administration as obstructive.
I think what we might need, like you're saying, get Congress involved. Get some codified laws about this somehow, so that we aren't always relying on a president's respect for norms to guide how much transparency we get. Perhaps institute a consequence for over-withholding, like when Bush hid climate change science as a response to 9/11.