Report finds FOIA requests caught in backlog

REPORT FINDS FOIA REQUESTS CAUGHT IN BACKLOG
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Matt Kelley]
Rules imposed by President Bush have improved federal agencies' responses to requests for records under the Freedom of Information Act, but a huge backlog of unanswered requests remains, says a study by the National Security Archive at George Washington University. The backlog of pending requests dropped 2%, to 212,000 from 217,000, from the end of 2005 through last Oct. 1, the report says. About a third of agencies with backlogs saw those backlogs grow, including several where progress on answering older requests was offset by a surge of new requests, the report says.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080317/a_foia17.art.htm

* Poll: Government seen as secretive
Nearly nine in 10 Americans say it's important to know presidential and congressional candidates' positions on open government, but three out of four view the federal government as secretive.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080317/a_poll17.art.htm

* Open-government promises too often fade into secrecy
1) Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said in a statement released Sunday she is "committed to restoring open government," both by mandating more open meetings and release of public documents and by nominating "an attorney general who has a proven commitment to open government." 2) Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., pledges to "turn the page on a growing empire of classified information" and "help connect government to its citizens and engage citizens in a democracy." 3) Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., says that "a democratic government operates best in the disinfecting light of the public eye," and that "ethics and transparency are not election-year buzz words; they are the obligations of democracy and the duties of honorable public service."
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080317/edit17.art.htm

* Backlog of data requests still bulging
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-briefs17mar17,1,...