01 November 2011

That evil, controlling George W...

...wait a minute...
White House involvement in FOIA has also drastically increased under Obama. Under the Bush administration, release of records was controlled by the agency that possessed them, with little or no involvement from the White House.

Agencies must now consult with Obama's counsel before releasing any records involving the White House. This not only slows down the process, but gives the White House much more power in what information is made public.

Perhaps the best example of transparency under Obama is this: When the new FOIA guidelines were issued, DOJ also announced a conference addressing how the guidelines would "establish a new era of open government."

That conference was closed to the public.