When new leadership takes control in the 110th Congress, the public may finally gain routine online access to finished products of the Congressional Research Service.
The prospects for adopting this simple change in disclosure policy are enhanced by the fact that such a move would not require Bush Administration concurrence.
For the time being, however, congressional policy prohibits direct public access to CRS reports.
Some notable new CRS reports obtained by Secrecy News that are not otherwise available online include the following (all pdf).
“Intelligence Estimates: How Useful to Congress?”, November 21, 2006.
“Iraqi Civilian Deaths Estimates,” November 22, 2006.
“Televising Supreme Court and Other Federal Court Proceedings: Legislation and Issues,” updated November 8, 2006.
“Anti-Terrorism Authority Under the Laws of the United Kingdom and the United States,” September 7, 2006.
Every new institution inherits something – existing incentives, existing staff, decades of prior investment that shaped what’s possible.
This is not the first time Google has agreed to censor imagery at the behest of governments, but be warned: obfuscation at this broad level poses a direct threat to the public’s ability to monitor and scrutinize government operations.
America’s affordability problem is bigger than home prices and rents. The best housing policies make it easier to build homes, and recognize how housing connects to other domains.
America’s affordability problem, for instance, is bigger than home prices and rents. How we build affects household costs like insurance and utilities.