[Infowarrior] - “Useful But Prohibited”: Air Force Openness Lags

[Richard Forno]

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2009/10/useful_but_prohibited.html

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/?p=2882

Some of the steps that are favored by the Obama Administration to open  
up government to public access and participation may be “useful” but  
they are nevertheless “prohibited” on U.S. Air Force web sites,  
according to a new Air Force policy instruction.

In a January 21, 2009 memorandum on transparency and open government,  
President Obama directed that “Executive departments and agencies  
should harness new technologies to put information about their  
operations and decisions online and readily available to the public….  
Executive departments and agencies should solicit public feedback to  
assess and improve their level of collaboration and to identify new  
opportunities for cooperation.”

The U.S. Air Force has a different vision, however.

A new Air Force policy on public communications (pdf) observed that  
“web-based message boards, threaded chat rooms, and guest books… allow  
users to post opinions, messages, or information openly on a web  
site.  They provide a useful means of creating two-way communication  
but are prohibited as part of public web site services (sec. 10)”

Instead of the “unprecedented level of openness” promised by the  
President, the Air Force prefers to follow precedent in other ways as  
well.

Only content that “is intended for a wide public audience” will be  
considered by the Air Force for publication online.  All other  
materials “should be posted on the [password-protected] Air Force  
Portal web site.”  Moreover, “all content on a public web site must be  
cleared for public release.”  See “Public Web Communications,” Air  
Force Instruction 35-107, October 21, 2009.

Unfortunately, the Air Force’s mandatory pre-publication clearance  
process (pdf) for “all content” is arduous, time-consuming and  
technologically primitive.  Authors should allow ten days for Air  
Force review, or twenty days when approval is needed from the  
Department of Defense.  Incredibly, materials for review can only be  
submitted in hardcopy (six paper copies for the Air Force and an  
additional four copies for DoD). Air Force Public Affairs says that it  
“does not accept material for review via e-mail or any other  
electronic means” (sec. 8).

On the other hand, “theatrical reviews… and works of fiction that are  
not sourced from active-duty experience” are excused from the pre- 
publication review requirement.  See “Security and Policy Review  
Process,” Air Force Instruction 35-102, October 20, 2009.

These new Air Force directives, and another Air Force Instruction on  
Public Affairs Policies and Procedures (pdf) that was modified last  
week, do not even mention the January 2009 Obama transparency  
memorandum, and certainly do not reflect its declared intent.

The impact of the President’s January memorandum has been deferred  
because the implementing Open Government Directive that was originally  
due for release in May has still not been completed. [Correction: The  
May 2009 deadline was for development of "recommendations" for the  
Open Government Directive, not for release of the Directive itself.]

But the Directive “will come out this fall,” said Beth Noveck, White  
House deputy chief technology officer for open government, at a  
meeting organized by the Center for Democracy and Technology  
yesterday.  The forthcoming Directive, to be issued by the Office of  
Management and Budget, will provide “a framework for agencies to  
pursue their own transparency initiatives,” she said.