Transparency and Open Government | The White House

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/TransparencyandOpenGovernment[3/22/2012 11:42:55 AM]

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Transparency and Open Government

Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and

Agencies

SUBJECT: Transparency and Open Government

My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in

Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a

system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will

strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in

Government.

Government should be transparent. Transparency promotes

accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government

is doing. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national

asset. My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and

policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and

use. Executive departments and agencies should harness new technologies to

put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available

to the public. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public

feedback to identify information of greatest use to the public.

Government should be participatory. Public engagement enhances the

Government's effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions. Knowledge

is widely dispersed in society, and public officials benefit from having access to

that dispersed knowledge. Executive departments and agencies should offer

Americans increased opportunities to participate in policymaking and to provide

their Government with the benefits of their collective expertise and

information. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public input

on how we can increase and improve opportunities for public participation

in Government.

Government should be collaborative. Collaboration actively engages

Americans in the work of their Government. Executive departments and agencies

should use innovative tools, methods, and systems to cooperateamong

themselves, across all levels of Government, and with nonprofit

organizations, businesses, and individuals in the private sector. Executive

departments and agencies should solicit public feedback to assess and improve

their level of collaboration and to identify new opportunities for cooperation.

I direct the Chief Technology Officer, in coordination with the Director of the Office

of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Administrator of General Services, to

coordinate the development by appropriate executive departments and agencies,

within 120 days, of recommendations for an Open Government Directive, to be

issued by the Director of OMB, that instructs executive departments and agencies

to take specific actions implementing the principles set forth in this

memorandum. The independent agencies should comply with the Open

Government Directive.

This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit,

substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by a party against the

United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees,

or agents, or any other person.

This memorandum shall be published in the Federal Register.
Transparency and Open Government | The White House

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/TransparencyandOpenGovernment[3/22/2012 11:42:55 AM]

BARACK OBAMA

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