Bush to Sign Executive Order On FOIA Requests, But 'Suspicion' Remains

By: MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer (AP) The White House is issuing a new policy easing public access to government information in response to complaints by news organizations that too much is withheld under the landmark disclosure law.

President Bush was expected to sign an executive order later Wednesday to improve public disclosure under the federal Freedom of Information Act, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.

The policy change requires each federal agency to designate a senior official as the chief FOIA officer, who must take a close look at the agency's FOIA programs and come up with a plan to improve them. The agencies are directed to make their FOIA processes "citizen-centered and goal oriented," McClellan said.

"What this executive order will do is improve the disclosure of information to the general public," McClellan said. "The Freedom of Information Act has been an important way for people to obtain information about their government."

But it was unclear whether Bush's order would reverse a 4-year-old directive from then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, issued shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, that restricted access to information.

More than 4 million FOIA requests were made to the federal government last year by the public and the media. Many requests drag on for years without resolution.

The government spends $300 million a year on FOIA matters and has taken expansive steps to improve government transparency and responsiveness, administration officials told Congress earlier this year.

But watchdog and media groups have said that there has been a bias away from disclosure since Ashcroft instructed agencies not to release information when there was any uncertainty about whether any FOIA exemptions applied, such as for national security and law enforcement material.

Ashcroft's memo said information sought under FOIA should be released "only after full and deliberate consideration of the institutional, commercial, and personal privacy interest that could be implicated by disclosure of the information."

Ashcroft reversed a Clinton administration policy that urged federal agencies to resolve FOIA requests by erring on the side of releasing, not withholding, government information.

Bush said last spring that he would look at ways to speed FOIA responses, conceding that there is "suspicion" his administration is too security-conscious.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Ashcroft's successor, said last summer that he would reconsider Ashcroft's FOIA guidance.