From New York Times:
Analysts for a Department of Homeland Security program that monitors social networks like Twitter and Facebook have been instructed to produce reports on policy debates related to the department, a newly disclosed manual shows.
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Read More… from Homeland Analysts Told to Monitor Policy Debates in Social Media
From RT:
Despite requests made under the Freedom of Information Act for correspondence out of the White House, the Obama administration is refusing to comply with calls to disclose discussions with Monsanto-linked lobbyists.
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Read More… from White House refuses to reveal ties with Monsanto
COLUMBIA, Mo. (February 22, 2012) – In a federal district court lawsuit supported by the National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC) and the Knight FOI Fund, a Virginia watchdog organization is challenging a new CIA regulation that obstructs citizen challenges to government overclassification by imposing excessive charges in the review process.
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Read More… from NFOIC supports lawsuit challenging new CIA charges to public records requesters
Here are several interesting items of note in the last couple days regarding costs associated with fulfilling public records requests—and the fighting thereof.
Granted, if not these then at least some agencies likely have used or will use costs—actual or estimated, reasonable or outlandish—as a way of deflecting criticism when requested records are not searched for adequately or are ultimately not located, and that is unacceptable.
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A federal judge ruled against an attorney seeking legal fees on behalf of his one-man nonprofit after it won access to CIA records.
National Security Counselors, a nonprofit that disseminates information on government activity related to national security, sued the CIA last year when it failed to respond to the organization's two requests under the Freedom of Information Act for documents on the declassification program.
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A few open government and FOIA news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier:
CIA's Covert Operation Against Declassification Review
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From OMBWatch:
An interagency project underway could revolutionize implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and significantly improve transparency and efficiency. The project to develop a government-wide portal for FOIA requests, a goal long supported by the open government community, could deliver as soon as this fall.
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Read More… from FOIA Portal Would Boost Responsiveness and Improve Efficiency
From Thomson Reuters News & Insight:
At a time when advocates are pushing for more transparency in government, two states are fighting in court to limit citizens' access to public documents.
Virginia and Tennessee are defending their local versions of the Freedom of Information Act which allow them to respond only to public records requests from in-state residents — and deny requests from out-of-staters.
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