Day One: New FOIA Rules

Addressing his new White House staff in a ceremony Wednesday, President Barack Obama spoke repeatedly of the importance of open government to his new administration. "Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones," he promised, shortly before signing several new executive orders, two of which were specifically designed to increase access to government information. One will require President Obama and past presidents to consult with the solicitor general and the attorney general before they claim privilege over information. The second transparency-related order seems designed to reverse President Bush's widely reviled guidelines on how information officers should respond to Freedom of Information Act requests.