Politics

Forward Movement in FOIA Office

By Judith Siers-Poisson

According to the The National Archives and Records Administration, Miriam Nisbet will be the first director of the Office of Government Information Services. She was previously legislative counsel for the American Librarian Association. Additionally, "she served as Deputy Director of the Justice Department's Office of Information Privacy, which plays a major role in overseeing government wide FOIA policy, and as a special counsel for information policy at the National Archives. Most recently, she was director of UNESCO?s Information For All Program." While OGIS was created in 2007 by Congress as "monitor and mediator" of FOIA requests, the Bush administration left the office unfunded. "We've been waiting a long time to see this thing get off the ground,? says Rick Blum, coordinator of the Sunshine in Government Initiative, a media coalition that worked closely with congress to push for the office?s creation, ?She?s a long-time advocate for open government, and this is a promising start for those who want the FOIA to work better."

Full post as published by PR Watch on June 16, 2009 (boomark / email).