Activists decried during a Senate hearing March 15 a lack of progress in federal Freedom of Information Act responsiveness despite Obama administration policies meant to foster a climate of disclosure.

"We appreciate the increased availability of government material on the Internet," said Thomas Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, while before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing timed to occur during Sunshine Week, an annual government openness fest spearheaded by the American Society of News Editors.

"But in matters of public interest and controversy, in terms of getting information from the administration, it is as difficult if not more difficult than ever," Fitton added.

Fitton cited an attempt from his conservative-leaning group to FOIA a report from the Homeland Security Department. DHS officials refused to release the report, he said, because it was still in draft form--but when Judicial Watch finally received the final report, its date showed that it could have been released at the time DHS officials said it was still in a draft form.

Sarah Cohen, a journalism professor at Duke University, told the panel that government attitudes toward the public availability of documents haven't changed.

"They suggest the wrong position that records belong to the government and not to the public. This position turns FOIA upside down.  Instead of the government convincing the public that certain information should be kept secret, in practice the public must convince officials that it should be released," she said.

Federal officials in an earlier session of the same hearing told panel members that the government has changed when it comes to FOIA.  

"Agencies have reduced their backlogs--so since implementation of our new guidelines, we're seeing progress. Backlogs are going down," said Melanie Pustay, director of the Justice Department office of information policy.

Pustay also touted the launch by Justice officials of foia.gov, which she said should shortly also include a search engine that will crawl among documents released by agencies under FOIA and posted to online FOIA reading rooms.

Pustay also criticized a National Security Archives at George Washington University report released March 14 that concluded only about half of agencies have updated their FOIA guidance and training with the "presumption in favor of disclosure" called for by President Barack Obama on his first day in office or have produced an assessment of whether they devote adequate resources in responding to FOIA requests.

"The conclusions that they reached in that report are incomplete," Pustay said. The report took as evidence lack of a response to FOIA requests made for documents showing guidance and training updates as evidence that agencies hadn't updated either, a conclusion Pustay said was not necessarily inaccurate.

"For example, an agency might not have created its own guidance," and adopted the Justice Department's guidance, she said. She didn't address why such an agency wouldn't have a releasable document recording that adoption.

For more:
- go to the hearing webpage (archived webcast available)
- read our coverage of the National Security Archives report

Related Articles:
No political appointee FOIA interference at EPA, says IG 
DHS grants 1 of 10 FOIA requests in full 
DOJ secret report on Nazis now online