Freedom of Information

The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, a branch of the U.S. State Department ought to get some sort of prize for Exceptional Audacity and Hypocrisy. If there is any institution in the United States that bestows such honors, I would be pleased to submit a nomination package on ECA's behalf. I have written in earlier blogs about some of the audacious activities of ECA, but in the news today is a real winner.

On June 26, 2008 Program Director for ECA, Ms. Pat Kowall, welcomed a group of Press Secretaries from Caribbean nations to a DOS sponsored "Leadership Program" (which sounds to me like a manifestation of Washington's "We shall teach the World" mentality). The stated objective of this program is to:

"review the history of public information in the United States including the role of the Freedom of Information Act [FOIA]; learn about information sharing and transparency at the Federal, State and local levels...."

During their visit, according to a press report, the Director of Policy and Litigation in the Office of Information and Privacy in the U.S. Department of Justice, Ms. Melanie Pustay, discussed the Freedom of Information Act and its operations.

One has to wonder whether the attendees were advised that the standard policy at ECA, their welcoming host, seems to be RELEASE NOTHING until absolutely forced to! Over a period of four years, ECA refused to release even a single shred of information (not even unclassified and generic information) in response to nearly a score of Freedom of Information Act requests and appeals from the numismatic community. Actually, we numismatists shouldn't feel too offended, ECA has also refused to give some of this same information to U.S. Congressmen and Senators. They finally released a fraction of the material sought when the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild and two trade associations filed a FOIA lawsuit to force action. That suit, now more than six months in progress, is ongoing—as ECA continues to release some pieces of the requested information and withhold others.

If this is the State Department's idea of public cooperation, they are deluded in their concept of government by and for the people. For ECA to tout the virtues of FOIA is a travesty and an insult to the Freedom of Information Act, a law that is truly designed to serve the people. It is certainly appropriate that Caribbean press secretaries learn about the intent and function of FOIA, it's really too bad that their hosts and "teachers" don't practice what they preach.