An innovative White House attempt to engage the interested public in the development of government policy on openness and transparency is moving briskly and, so far, productively.
An initial online brainstorming session attracted over 98,000 visits and generated some 2,450 “ideas” for increasing public access to government information, over 11,000 comments on those ideas, and over 200,000 votes in favor or against them. The process threatened to become overwhelmed by the sheer number of proposals, not all of which were clearly focused or formulated, and some of which were eccentric or irrelevant (legalize marijuana!). But the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy team that is managing the process was able to distill the best suggestions into a substantive but digestible core.
The next step is an online discussion of the particular proposals that is intended to flesh them out and to convert “lofty principles into specific actions” that the executive could take, said Dr. Beth Noveck, the OSTP Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Open Government. Interested members of the public are invited and encouraged to participate in the process. To catch up on the latest developments, see the OSTP Open Government blog.
Other White House efforts to address overclassification and the spread of official controls on unclassified information have received a less enthusiastic reception. Critics (including Secrecy News) expressed concern that these initiatives may be insufficiently ambitious in conception and that they provide no formal mechanism for public input. See “Critics Blast Obama Classification Review” by Justin Rood, ABC News The Blotter, June 3, 2009.
The emphasis on interagency consensus, while well-intentioned, has become a structural impediment to bold or innovative policy options. When every agency effectively holds veto power over proposals, the path of least resistance becomes maintaining existing approaches with minor modifications.
The Federation of American Scientists supports H.R. 471, the re-introduction of the Fix Our Forests Act.
As people become less able to distinguish between what is real and what is fake, it has become easier than ever to be misled by synthetic content, whether by accident or with malicious intent. This makes advancing alternative countermeasures, such as technical solutions, more vital than ever before.
Throughout this phase of work, there are many actions hiring managers and staffing specialists can take to streamline the process and improve the quality of eligible candidates. Most importantly, hiring managers and staffing specialists can collaborate within and across agencies to expedite and simplify the process.