Useful Sites

A brief roadmap to some open government hotspots online

Many news organizations have written stories relying at least in part on the federal Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA. These stories can be found in the FOIA Files, SGI's searchable database of stories relying at least in part on FOIA.

For people looking for good sources of information, updates, analyses & trends on open government, several organizations post quality work. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press's team of lawyer-reporters blogs about events related to First Amendment and open government nationally and across the country. (Disclosure: The Sunshine in Government Initiative is hosted by RCFP.)

In addition to the Sunshine in Government Initiative, coalitions have formed in recent years. OpenTheGovernment.org, a broad-based open government coalition, posts links to reports, events, and news items of interest. The coalition of Journalists for Open Government, operated for four years from 2004 until July 2008, monitored oepn government news big and small and wrote regular quantitative analyses of federal agencies' FOIA operations.

The Bureau of National Affairs, which publishes trade subscription publications, frequently covers open government policy, including FOIA, in its Daily Report for Executives. The Federation of American Scientists' Secrecy News reports and comments on secrecy in intelligence and national security and shares interseting tidbits. Federal Computer Week also writes about e-government and other technology-related aspects of open government.

Open Government Groups

Coalition of Journalists for Open Government: www.cjog.net

Freedom Forum: http://www.freedomforum.org/

The Heritage Foundation: http://www.heritage.org/Press/MediaCenter/index.cfm

National Freedom of Information Coalition: www.nfoic.org/index.htm

National Security Archives: www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/

OMB Watch: www.ombwatch.org/info

OpenTheGovernment.org: www.openthegovernment.org/

Project on Government Oversight: www.pogo.org/

Public Citizen Freedom of Information Clearing House: www.citizen.org/litigation/free_info/

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Presswww.rcfp.org/

Sunshine Week Website: www.sunshineweek.com

University of Missouri FOI Center: www.missouri.edu/~foiwww/

U.S. Government Links

USA Gov (formerly FirstGov, the "homepage" for federal government websites) www.USA.gov

List of FOIA officers and contact information from each separate federal agency:
www.usdoj.gov/oip/foiacontacts.htm

Legislation in Congress:
THOMAS (Library of Congress)