NY Times Calls for Restoration of FOIA Ombuds

An opinion piece in today's New York Times calls on Congress to resist the President's efforts to eliminate the newly-created Ombuds for Freedom of Information Act disputes.

Rather than fulfilling Congress’s bipartisan mandate to establish the ombudsman at the respected National Archives, the Bush budget attempts a shell-game switch of the new watchdog to the Department of Justice. Mediator? This is the very administration-friendly agency already responsible for defending agencies against lawsuits by citizens denied their information requests.

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The ombudsman’s independence is at the heart of repairing the information law. Congress must strike down the president’s end-run and keep the new watchdog at the National Archives, alert to the public’s understandable suspicions about its government.

(NY Times.)

Prior post: Bush Defunds FOIA Ombuds Program.