Transparency and open government - Obama's midnight memos

At the stroke of midnight on January 21, 2009. five "Presidential Actions" went into force (see White House press statement), establishing a clear foundation of organizing values and principles for the new Obama Administration. The "Midnight Five," with their links, are:

Presidential Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government

Presidential Memorandum on Freedom of Information Act

Executive Order on Presidential Records

Executive Order on Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel

Presidential Memorandum Regarding Pay Freeze

The capstone action is the one we list first, the memo on "Transparency and Open Government," a remarkable document that lays out the fundamental reason we need openness and how to achieve it. This understanding of the central role of transparency is vital at this extraordinarily critical moment in the still-accelerating economic crisis. Transparency is both necessary and beneficial. To paraphrase Judge Brandeis again, things get better with sunlight.

The president doesn't mince words in his preamble to the memo:

"My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government."

How are these open government benefits of efficiency, effectiveness, and a stronger democracy to be achieved? The memo outlines three imperatives ("shoulds"):

• Government should be transparent.
• Government should be participatory.
• Government should be collaborative.

Lest you think transparency and openness apply just to government, listen up all you leaders in organizations of every size in every sector who are feeling and dealing with desperate challenges. We can only get out of this mess by all of us being smarter and contributing to the overall solution.

We are posting the whole transparency memo after the break below, inserting in brackets words that indicate its applicability to all organizations, thus, the revised title and what follows. Please take a read and see if you might be able to endorse the same statement in your organization.

-- Jeff Stamps

Transparency and Open Governments [Organizations]

My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government [organizations].  We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public [stakeholder] participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government [organizations].

Government [organization] should be transparent.  Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens [stakeholders, including our employees, contractors, vendors, customers, and even competitors with whom we sometimes cooperate] about what their Government [organization] is doing.  Information maintained by the Federal Government [organization] is a national [organizational] asset. My Administration [executives, leaders, and employees] will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public [stakeholders] can readily find and use. Executive departments and agencies [leaders] should harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public [stakeholders]. Executive departments and agencies [leaders] should also solicit public [stakeholder] feedback to identify information of greatest use to the public [stakeholders].

Government [organization] should be participatory. Public [stakeholder] engagement enhances the Government's [organization's] effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions. Knowledge is widely dispersed in society, and public officials [leaders] benefit from having access to that dispersed knowledge. Executive departments and agencies [leaders] should offer Americans [employees] increased opportunities to participate in policy making and to provide their Government [organization] with the benefits of their collective expertise and information. Executive departments and agencies [leaders] should also solicit public [stakeholder] input on how we can increase and improve opportunities for public [stakeholder] participation in Government [the organization].

Government [organization] should be collaborative.  Collaboration actively engages Americans in the work of their Government [organization]. Executive departments and agencies [leaders] should use innovative tools, methods, and systems to cooperate among themselves, across all levels of Government [organizations], and with nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individuals in the private sector.  Executive departments and agencies [leaders] should solicit public [stakeholder] feedback to assess and improve their level of collaboration and to identify new opportunities for cooperation.

I direct the Chief Technology Officer, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Administrator of General Services, to coordinate the development by appropriate executive departments and agencies, within 120 days, of recommendations for an Open Government Directive, to be issued by the Director of OMB, that instructs executive departments and agencies to take specific actions implementing the principles set forth in this memorandum. The independent agencies should comply with the Open Government Directive.

This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by a party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

This memorandum shall be published in the Federal Register.

BARACK OBAMA

[Your name here]