ClydeR
01-31-2011, 11:13 AM
Darrell Issa, the new Republican chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has a good idea for improving transparency and speeding up the process of responding to Freedom of Information Act requests.
Mr. Issa sent a letter on Tuesday asking 180 federal agencies, from the Department of Defense to the Social Security Administration, for electronic files containing the names of people who requested the documents, the date of their requests and a description of information they sought. For those still pending after more than 45 days, he also asked for any communication between the requestor and the federal agency. The request covers the final three years of Bush administration and the first two years of President Obama’s.
“Our interest is not in the private citizens who make the requests,” said Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for Mr. Issa. “We are looking at government responses to these Freedom of Information requests and the only way to measure that is to tally all that information.”
Yearly, the federal government receives about 600,000 FOIA requests, as they are called, a vast majority from corporate executives seeking information on competitors that might do business with the government. A much smaller number comes from civil libertarians, private citizens, whistle-blowers or journalists seeking information on otherwise secret government operations.
More... (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/us/politics/29issa.html)
Liberals are raising all kids of complaints about Issa's request. He might use the information to target civil libertarians, or he might be doing it to halt all other work of the agencies, who have until mid-February to compile and produce the information requested by Issa.
I don't think that's why he's doing it. The government normally keeps private the identify of individuals requesting the information. Most of the FOIA requests covered by Issa's letter were made during the Bush years. We need to expose those people who are making their requests at the behest of, in common cause with, or in support of the ACLU and its allies.
Mr. Issa sent a letter on Tuesday asking 180 federal agencies, from the Department of Defense to the Social Security Administration, for electronic files containing the names of people who requested the documents, the date of their requests and a description of information they sought. For those still pending after more than 45 days, he also asked for any communication between the requestor and the federal agency. The request covers the final three years of Bush administration and the first two years of President Obama’s.
“Our interest is not in the private citizens who make the requests,” said Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for Mr. Issa. “We are looking at government responses to these Freedom of Information requests and the only way to measure that is to tally all that information.”
Yearly, the federal government receives about 600,000 FOIA requests, as they are called, a vast majority from corporate executives seeking information on competitors that might do business with the government. A much smaller number comes from civil libertarians, private citizens, whistle-blowers or journalists seeking information on otherwise secret government operations.
More... (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/us/politics/29issa.html)
Liberals are raising all kids of complaints about Issa's request. He might use the information to target civil libertarians, or he might be doing it to halt all other work of the agencies, who have until mid-February to compile and produce the information requested by Issa.
I don't think that's why he's doing it. The government normally keeps private the identify of individuals requesting the information. Most of the FOIA requests covered by Issa's letter were made during the Bush years. We need to expose those people who are making their requests at the behest of, in common cause with, or in support of the ACLU and its allies.