About Open Government
On January 21, 2009, President Obama signed the Memorandum for Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on Transparency and Open Government—the first memorandum of his presidency. In it, he announced his administration’s commitment to achieving an "unprecedented level of openness in Government."
The Memorandum calls for instilling three principles in the workings of government:
- Transparency – to enable greater accountability, efficiency, and economic opportunity by making government data and operations more open.
- Participation – to createearly and effective opportunities to drive greater and more diverse expertise into government decisionmaking.
- Collaboration – to generate new ideas for solving problems by fostering cooperation across government departments, across levels of government, and with the public.
The Memorandum charges the Chief Technology Officer, together with the Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration, with creating recommendations for an OMB directive on open government within 120 days. The CTO, OMB, and GSA have recommended that on May 21st, the White House invite the public to contribute its expertise to crafting final recommendations on open government. The goal is to experiment with mechanisms for effective citizen participation in order to complement the know-how of government employees with the expertise and intelligence of the American people.
Much of the expertise we need can be found among the nation’s citizens. From economic recovery and health care reform to environmental protection and homeland security, we must ensure that government makes the best possible decisions informed by the best possible expertise and information. With today’s tools, we can create a two-way dialogue between the American people and their government and develop policy that benefits from the diverse perspectives of an engaged citizenry.
