A Proposal for a Comprehensive Restructuring of the Public Information System

After more than ten years of legislative, judicial and bureaucratic tinkering, the public information system created by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is still far from satisfactory. The present public information system has not been successful because its drafters lacked imagination and failed to do the basic work necessary to create a sound foundation for such a comprehensive program. They failed to analyze the realistic goals of a public information system; they ignored the ultimate goals of improved government performance; they misrepresented the system\u27s costs, both in monetary expense to taxpayers and in diminished government performance. They considered neither alternative techniques nor the problem of designing the public information system as an integral part of the total governmental structure. Actual open government for the benefit of the general populace will be possible only if the basic weaknesses of the present system are explored in depth. This Article is an appeal to Congress to undertake the careful analysis necessary to construct a workable, useful public information system