2 years after Obama ordered more open records, agencies still use baffling delays and denials

Two years after Obama pledged to reverse the Bush administration’s penchant for secrecy and comply more closely with the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, The Associated Press grapples with many of the same frustrating roadblocks and head-scratching inconsistencies.

Several recent examples are described below. Exasperating delays and denials also affect ordinary citizens, researchers and businesses, and they frustrate the administration’s goal to be the most transparent in history. Obama’s administration this week defended its progress in disclosing more information rapidly and reducing backlogs of requests for information. Agencies also are posting online large sets of data on auto safety, air quality, crime, health care and employment, which means fewer requests have to be filed in the first place, they said. “Greater transparency and a more open government are happening right now,” said Melanie Pustay, director of the Justice Department’s Office of Information Policy. Her office is responsible for government-wide compliance with the Freedom of Information Act. Yet it remains a hair-pulling, exhausting experience to ask for federal records from the government. The law can be complicated even when it’s applied properly. Patience is a virtue.