THE WHITE HOUSE

 Office of the Press Secretary

 

For Immediate Release January 21, 2009

January 21, 2009

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 cooperate among 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.

 BARACK OBAMA

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