Testing Obama’s Promise of Government Transparency

INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC BY DAVID INGOLD, DAVID EVANS AND DANNY DOUGHERTY. REPORTING BY DANIELLE IVORY AND JIM SNYDER. |

SEP. 20, 2012 3:56 PM |

On his first full day in the White House, Barack Obama promised to “usher in a new era of open government” and ordered officials to be more transparent with the public they serve. An investigation to test that pledge shows that many of the president’s own appointees haven’t met those goals. In June, Washington-based reporters at Bloomberg News filed requests under the Freedom of Information Act for the out-of-town travel records for fiscal year 2011 for Cabinet secretaries and top officials at 57 major federal agencies subject to the law. Only about half of those contacted provided the records and costs.

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