Similarly, Government Executive Magazine ran an feature article in June 2012 called "The Truth Behind Transparency," calling progress with open government as "tough to gauge."
The basic idea of FOIA as the website for Sunshine Week put it is: "the public's right to know about its government."
Obviously, as GovExec points out, one of the main questions over the years with FOIA is "how quickly and fully do agencies respond to FOIA requests?"
To much and too soon, and do you perhaps put at risk various sensitive information, jeopardizing elements of the functioning of government itself?
Too little and too late, and then is the opportunity for mismanagement, waste, fraud, and abuse simply an after fact?
As Beth Novek, former deputy chief technology officer for open government, described it, open government is a "shorthand for open innovation or the idea that working in a transparent, participatory, and collaborative fashion helps improve performance, inform decision-making, encourage entrepreneurship and solve problems more effectively."
Transparency can aid in accountability by shedding a light on leadership and its performance management. It can also be a great opportunity to bring new ideas and opinions to the fold, perhaps leading to better decisions and results, at the end of the day, for all.
The challenge for government is to guard against any information risks to the safety and security of our nation.
An informed nation, is a stronger nation--to me, it is a foundation of a government "of the people, by the people, for the people."
Government and the people working together, duly informed, to confront our toughest challenges and solve our greatest problems.
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