Subject: Report on meeting with S. Katzen re: GILS, etc
patricem@RTK.NET
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 14:19:54 -0500
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 14:19:54 -0500 From: patricem@RTK.NET Subject: Report on meeting with S. Katzen re: GILS, etc To: gils@cni.org Message-Id: <Chameleon.887052901.patrice@xp0.rtknet.org>
On January 15, 1998 after 4 months of attempts to arrange a
meeting several members of the Public Access Working Group (PAWG) met
with OMB-OIRA staff to discuss the expiration of the GILS Bulletin 95-01
and related information policy concerns. Those in attendance from PAWG
were: Scott Armstrong [Information Trust], Lucinda Sikes & Michael
Tankersley [Public Citizen], Tom Freebairn [OMB Watch's Communications
Catalyst Project], John Chelen [the Unison Institute], and Patrice
McDermott [OMB Watch]. From the government: [OMB/OIRA] Sally Katzen,
Bruce McConnell, Peter Weiss (and Don Arbuckle for the second half of the
meeting); the General Counsel for OMB; and an attorney from the Justice
Department. The latter two were there because Public Citizen has a suit
filed against OMB and other agencies charging that they have failed to
implement the requirements of the E-FOIA amendments. Justice is handling
the Administration's response.
They were unwilling to address in other than the most general
terms any FOIA concerns, although Sally Katzen spoke very forcefully
about concerns expressed about the openness-orientation of many agency
personnel. The meeting did not result in any clearer understanding of how
OIRA plans to respond to the issues we raised.
We questioned them on their lack of response to the letter that a
number of PAWG members had signed in September 1996 (asking them to
rescind OMB Memorandum 97-10 that stated that having a "GILS presence"
was sufficient to meet some of the requirements of the E-FOIA
amendments). They refused to comment, saying that they consider that as
being related to the lawsuit.
We questioned them about the status of guidance on use of the Web
by federal executive branch agencies that has supposedly been pending for
more than a year. They said it is in a queue on Bruce McConnell's desk.
They were unable to satisfactorily answer our questions about
GILS. Tom Freebairn asked if they considered the Bulletin to still be in
effect (as they had intimated that they thought it might be). They seemed
to be uncertain how to respond. But Peter Weiss said, "The PRA
[Paperwork Reduction Act] is still in effect," implying that the GILS
Bulletin may not be necessary. Section 3511 of the PRA requires OMB to
"cause to be established and maintained" the Government Information
Locator Service, and to require agencies to support the operation of the
service. The section also requires OMB to periodically review GILS and
make recommendations for improving it as well as public access. The
Bulletin is the mechanism for carrying out OMB's responsibilities under
the Act.
We explained that we thought the Bulletin (or other forms of
communication) was very important in sending a signal to agencies that
OMB strongly supports the spirit and intent of Section 3511. The absence
of the Bulletin, we stressed, could send a very unclear message to
agencies, leaving agencies confused about their GILS responsibilities now
that the Bulletin expired. We also told them that agency staff had
expressed to us the need for the Bulletin in order to allow them to
continue spending resources on maintaining and improving GILS.They
appeared surprised by the feedback we received from agency staff.
Nonetheless, they had no response about any further OMB actions with
regard to GILS.
Even as we focused on GILS, E-FOIA, and other information policy
issues, the OIRA staff seemed focused on the Year 2000 problem.They said
that "the immediate [e.g., Y2K] has tended to overwhelm the long-term."
As you know, Sally Katzen has moved to the National Economic
Council (NEC) as Deputy Director. Don Arbuckle, her Deputy at OIRA, is
now the Acting Administrator.This makes it even more uncertain how OIRA
will address GILS, E-FOIA, and other information policy issues.
-------------------------------------
Patrice McDermott
patricem@rtk.net
OMB Watch/Public Access Working Group
Date: 02/09/98
Time: 14:19:54
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