Following yesterday's post on how the Geithner bailout plan did not provide the transparency required to fill the enormous trust gap, I checked out the Treasury page on the "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act" (EESA) which is where "details" about the TARP program hang out. First thing to notice is that it looks broken, i.e., the entire left hand column is blank. Strange. It's been this way since this section of the Treasury site was launched in October, 2008. Otherwise, since the new administration has come in, nothing has changed. A few press releases have been added. This stands in stark contrast to the White House site, which is, shall we say, nothing like what was there before January 20.
Then I looked for the Treasury org chart. Not to be found. A review of the site map confirmed that none was listed.
Curious, I checked out the other departments. Most have the Bush-administration org charts still posted. Notably, Steven Chu, the Nobelist Secretary of Energy, has already posted an updated DOE chart. And, Arne Duncan's Dept of Education site has the most interesting interactive chart, which, because of its design, is naturallly up to date. The Treasury Department is the only agency that has no org chart at all. Curious.
When I was assembling our OrgScope map of the US Gov, Treasury's org chart was the first one I keyed in, necessary because I was mapping the network of consultants, contracts, and bailout recipients associated with EESA (which you can see in our Rescue Map). I eventually collected and keyed in all the departmental org charts, posting them together here. As a good archivist, I had the url to the (old) Treasury map here. You can click to see for yourself where that takes you now: "We're sorry...file cannot be found..."
Surely an oversight, so as a public service we offer a link from our site to what is in all likelihood exactly the same Treasury org chart today. Moreover, we have added the organizational structure of EESA to the Treasury chart in our US Gov map. (Treasury is at 11 o'clock, then go to the Deputy, then Office of Domestic Finance, from which hangs the Office of Financial Stability.)
Treasury needs to set an example of transparency itself. Remarkably, they have become less transparent than their Bush administration predecessors. Unintentionally, I'm sure. I hope.
-- Jeff Stamps
