Will FOIA Executive Order Preempt Reform Legislation?

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The Federal Times reports on the concern of CJOG and other open government advocates that the Executive Order signed by President Bush in December could preempt the broader Freedom of Information Act reform called for in the proposed OPEN Government Act sponsored by Sens. John Cornyn and Patrick Leahy and Rep. Lamar Smith. The report quotes an unnamed administration official who all but confirms that was the intent of the order: “We share the overall goal of improved FOIA processing, and concluded that the better way to achieve this goal is through this executive order, where agencies look internally to their processing, identify areas to improve, and then report on those improvements.” (1/30/06)