Transparency

Government Transparency Is More Critical Now Than Ever, Experts Say

“If there was ever a time for citizen oversight and media oversight and, obviously, insider oversight ... it’s now,” says one former USAID official.

  • Courtney Bublé

GovExec Daily: Transparency in the Trump Administration

Courtney Bublé and Tom Shoop join the podcast to examine the White House's claim that it is the "most transparent ever."

  • Ross Gianfortune and Adam Butler

Transparency in the Trump Era

To hold government officials and agencies accountable, citizens need timely and accurate information about their work.

  • Courtney Bublé

Bipartisan Bill Would Make It Easier for the Public to See How Agencies Plan to Spend Their Budgets

House and Senate panels advanced the legislation last week.

  • Courtney Bublé

The Costs of Spying

A new study reveals that from 2015 to 2019, the NSA’s call-metadata program cost taxpayers $100 million and provided practically no useful information.

  • Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic

GovExec Daily: Bureaucrat-Bashing at the Highest Levels of Government

With President Trump aiming his words increasingly at federal employees, Tom Shoop explains why we're reaching a dangerous new low.

  • Ross Gianfortune and Adam Butler

How EPA Could Be More Transparent With the Public

Think tank suggests more support for the newly established C-suite level position of chief data officer. 

  • Courtney Bublé

Democratic Candidates Defend Their Records on Transparency During Nevada Primary Debate

Presidential contenders who have criticized Trump for his secrecy were forced to explain their own actions.  

  • Courtney Bublé

Viewpoint: Bill Barr Must Resign

The attorney general is working to destroy the integrity and independence of the Justice Department, in order to make Donald Trump a president who can operate above the law.

  • Donald Ayer, The Atlantic

The Founding Generation Showed Their Patriotism With Their Money

History suggests the value of a broader understanding of patriotism, one that goes beyond saluting-the-flag loyalty and battlefield bravery.

  • Tom Shachtman, The Atlantic

Viewpoint: Trump’s Defense Against Subpoenas Makes No Legal Sense

Like so many contentions of the president’s legal team, this is malarkey thinly draped with plausible-sounding distortions of facts, rules, court opinions, and the Constitution itself.

  • Frank O. Bowman III, The Atlantic

The Worst Kind of Medical Debt

When treated at military hospitals, civilians can end up with tens of thousands of dollars in debt that the federal government relentlessly tries to collect.

  • Olga Khazan and Jared Bennett, The Atlantic

The Civil Servant Who Changes the Constitution

One federal employee will determine whether the ERA gets added to America’s founding document—the question is which authority he’ll turn to for guidance.

  • Robinson Woodward-Burns, The Atlantic
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These Emails Show a Trump Official Helping Her Former Chemical Industry Colleagues

A lobbyist turned senior Agriculture Department official repeatedly shared information with her former industry on policy and enforcement. “It’s highly inappropriate conduct,” said one ethics expert.

  • Derek Kravitz, ProPublica

Analysis: Can the Constitution Stop the Government from Lying to the Public?

When a person or agency backed by the power and resources of the government tells a lie, it sometimes causes harm that only the government can inflict.

  • Helen Norton, The Conversation

Trump Objects to Certain Transparency Requirements of 2020 Spending and Policy Bills

The provisions he opposes are for both public and classified matters.

  • Courtney Bublé

The Lessons of the Afghanistan Papers

Americans need leaders who can tell them how and when they will decide to pull the plug.

  • Kevin Huggard and Tamara Cofman Wittes, The Atlantic

Analysis: Courts Have Avoided Refereeing Between Congress and the President, but Trump May Force Them to Wade In

President Trump refuses to provide information to lawmakers in the impeachment inquiry. But courts have been reluctant to take such cases for fear of upsetting the government's balance of power.

  • Kirsten Carlson

The Trump Administration Gutted the Staff Overseeing $1 Billion in Aid to Iraq. A Watchdog Is Raising Red Flags.

A new report warns that USAID may not be able to effectively oversee $1.16 billion in foreign aid to Iraq — including to Christian groups Vice President Mike Pence’s office favored — after the administration cut much of its on-the-ground staff.

  • Yeganeh Torbati, ProPublica

Report: Trump Administration Has Made Significant Changes to LGBTQ Content on Federal Websites

Language, resources and content have been changed since January 2017.

  • Courtney Bublé

Viewpoint: The U.S. Government Has a Secrecy Problem

American officials classify too much information, from the trivial to the politically inconvenient. The overreliance on secrecy invites abuse.

  • Mike Giglio, The Atlantic