So Much For Obama 's Pledge To Transparency
President Barack Obama  repeatedly pledged  he  would run the most transparent administration in the history of the United States during both of  his  presidential campaigns  but the evidence shows  Obama ’s administration has not only failed to meet that standard  it has actively worked to conceal important information from the public.
For instance  in March 2015  the  Obama  administration rescinded a regulation requiring the administration to comply with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests  thereby exempting itself from public scrutiny and oversight. So much for transparency.
The  Obama  administration’s action should not surprise anyone. An Associated Press investigation conducted in 2014 shows secrecy has increased dramatically under  Obama ’s time in office. In 2013  the  Obama  administration censored or denied 244 675 FOIA requests  which amounts to about 36% of the FOIA applications the administration received. This rejection rate is higher than under any previous presidential administration. Another 196 034 FOIA requests were denied because the government claimed it couldn’t find records or the government determined the request to be unreasonable or improper. In 2014  the figures were even worse. More than 250 000  or about 39%  of FOIA requests were either censored or denied. In 215 584 other instances  the government said the records could not be found or it decided the requests were unreasonable.
Memos and information related to national security deserve heightened scrutiny before being released—if they are released at all—but the  Obama  administration has concealed or denied the release of critical information not related to national security as well  such as the scientific information used to justify environmental regulations.  Obama ’s lack of transparency when  it  comes to environmental science makes it very difficult for independent researchers to review important data the government relies on to ensure environmental regulations are justified and based on sound science.
Multiple U.S. Senate reports have found  Obama  administration officials at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other government environmental agencies have repeatedly attempted to avoid public input at meetings or have worked to limit scrutiny by hiding information that ought to have been made readily available  violating the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA)  widely known as the “open meetings law.”
[TGT]repeatedly pledged  [TGT]  would run the most transparent administration in the history of the United States during both of  [TGT]  presidential campaigns  but the evidence shows  [TGT] ’s administration has not only failed to meet that standard  it has actively worked to conceal important information from the public.
For instance  in March 2015  the  Obama  administration rescinded a regulation requiring the administration to comply with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests  thereby exempting itself from public scrutiny and oversight. So much for transparency.
The  Obama  administration’s action should not surprise anyone. An Associated Press investigation conducted in 2014 shows secrecy has increased dramatically under  Obama ’s time in office. In 2013  the  Obama  administration censored or denied 244 675 FOIA requests  which amounts to about 36% of the FOIA applications the administration received. This rejection rate is higher than under any previous presidential administration. Another 196 034 FOIA requests were denied because the government claimed it couldn’t find records or the government determined the request to be unreasonable or improper. In 2014  the figures were even worse. More than 250 000  or about 39%  of FOIA requests were either censored or denied. In 215 584 other instances  the government said the records could not be found or it decided the requests were unreasonable.
Memos and information related to national security deserve heightened scrutiny before being released—if they are released at all—but the  Obama  administration has concealed or denied the release of critical information not related to national security as well  such as the scientific information used to justify environmental regulations.  Obama ’s lack of transparency when  it  comes to environmental science makes it very difficult for independent researchers to review important data the government relies on to ensure environmental regulations are justified and based on sound science.
Multiple U.S. Senate reports have found  Obama  administration officials at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other government environmental agencies have repeatedly attempted to avoid public input at meetings or have worked to limit scrutiny by hiding information that ought to have been made readily available  violating the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA)  widely known as the “open meetings law.”