The Obama administration has reduced the backlog of Freedom of Information Act requests but still faces a large number of unfulfilled requests. Under a new plan, the administration wants to improve the processing of the requests and also address other crucial issues in government openness including strengthening whistleblower protections and making more information available.
Writing for The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Kirsten Berg quotes John Wonderlich of the Sunlight Foundation who likes the plan but sees great challenges ahead, “The experience of the Open Government directive has shown us that implementation is much harder than getting a political declaration. He has got a fantastic declaration, but the challenge now is moving into the implementation.” -db
From a commentary from The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, September 26, 2011. by Kirsten Berg.