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.
Often negotiations between data center developers and local officials are conducted behind closed doors, protected by NDAs. How can we have an informed debate, when we don’t know what’s on the table?
As federal data policy nerds, the question we get asked all the time is “How much data has the current administration terminated?”
Google’s motto famously used to be “don’t be evil.” However, its latest feature has just made being evil a whole lot easier.
The public will judge the next era of American science by the innovation that touches their lives through the new cures, products, and opportunities created within their communities.