Ah, Bush. An audit has discovered that there has been basically no movement in he backlog of Freedom of information requests.
From the AP:
Despite ordering improvements more than two years ago, President Bush has barely made a dent in the huge backlog of unanswered requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
At the same time, an audit by the National Security Archive found that Bush has provided citizens someone to talk to about how long it is going to take to get the government records they want or to be turned down.
The archive, a private research group at The George Washington University, released its seventh audit Sunday of the 1967 law that gives people the power to request information from federal government files. The audit of 90 government agencies found mixed results from Bush’s executive order on Dec. 14, 2005, to agencies to clear the backlog and be more responsive to requesters.
“Behind its ambitious facade, the order lacked both carrot and stick,” the audit said, because it provided no additional money to do the job and no way to force agencies to set substantial goals or step up their efforts if they fell short.
Yes, it is an open government. Please don’t look behind the curtain. Stay with your tour group.