Obama outlines open government agenda

In a Silicon Valley address last week, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama laid out his plans to use technology to increase government transparency, promising online access to federal data and the opportunity for citizens to comment online on pending legislation.

Bush administration officials said such moves would simply expand on initiatives already under way.

Building upon previous promises to free government from undue political and financial influence, Obama's technology and innovation plan would aim to increase transparency through e-government initiatives.

"We will put government data online in universally accessible formats, [allowing citizens to] track federal grants, contracts, earmarks and lobbying contracts, participate in government forums, ask questions in real time, offer suggestions that will be reviewed before decisions are made, and comment on legislation before it is signed," Obama said during a speech at the Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. on Nov. 14.

The plan would expand on the 2006 Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act -- co-sponsored by Obama -- which mandates the creation of a user-friendly Web site to track federal spending data. Rule-making agencies would be required to deliberate issues via live feeds on the Internet that would allow citizens to respond to their efforts. Nonemergency legislation would be posted on the White House Web site, where people would be able to review and comment on it for five days before it was signed into law.

Cabinet officials would be required to hold periodic nationwide online town hall meetings to answer questions and discuss issues before their agencies, and such technologies as blogs, wikis and social networking tools would be used to enhance internal, cross-agency, and public communication and information sharing.

In the Bush administration, Karen Evans, administrator of e-government and information technology at the Office of Management and Budget, oversees governmentwide IT initiatives. Her office is responsible for enforcing the requirements of the 2002 E-Government Act, which requires the use of Internet-based IT to enhance citizen access to government information and services.

"We don't analyze specific campaign plans, but any efforts on government transparency will be building on our efforts already in place," said Jane Lee, an OMB spokeswoman. "From Expectmore.gov, the earmarks database, to Internet postings of agency budget justifications, we've made unprecedented progress at the federal level in providing greater transparency, holding government accountable and delivering results for taxpayers."

Any effort by the next administration to expand government transparency would indeed benefit from initiatives already under way, said Alan Balutis, director and distinguished fellow of Cisco's Internet Business Solutions Group. Furthermore, a workforce shake-up could drive increased cooperation from agencies.

"The devil's in the details, but [I wouldn't call] the concept of putting more information online and actually opening up a lot of government processes and deliberations a stretch," Balutis said. "The technology is all there. The challenge, as is often is the case, is cultural. Senior and mid-level managers that are set in their ways often feel endangered and undercut by these changes."

But with federal retirements slated to peak when the next administration comes into office, the time may be right to hurdle some of the cultural barriers, Balutis said. "Technology will only become more important, so what do you do as a government? Embrace and facilitate it, as opposed to just getting swept along or trying to stand [in its way]."

Obama's plan also includes the appointment of the first federal chief technology officer. The CTO would oversee e-government initiatives and be charged with ensuring that all agencies have a modern, secure infrastructure, use best-in-class technologies and share best practices. The CTO also would be responsible for implementing standards to ensure technological interoperability of key government functions.

This concept is not entirely new. The post of a federal chief information officer was included in several proposals introduced in the mid-1990s as part of government reform efforts. Ultimately, the idea was dropped, but legislation was passed mandating that all major executive branch agencies appoint CIOs.

That means "right now there's a coalition [approach] to technology initiatives -- 'If we can get all 24 CIOs to sign up, we'll do it,' " Balutis said. "But a lot of things require a coordinated effort, and that kind of committee approach has its limitations. It would be nice, when there are failures, to have one throat to [choke]."