CIA Creates Transparency Page That Doesn’t Reveal Much

The CIA posted its open government page this week, following an order from the White House requiring agencies to create Web pages dedicated to transparency.

The move is overdue. Last month we reported that 27 of 64 independent agencies--agencies like the CIA, which are under the purview of the executive branch but function independently--had missed the Feb. 6 deadline for creating these transparency pages. The deadline was set by the White House Office of Management and Budget as part of a larger transparency to-do list. We are tracking that larger to-do list too.

When asked about the agencies that missed the deadline, the Office of Management and Budget told us that independent agencies weren't required to have the transparency pages, even though in January of last year, President Obama issued a memo calling for both executive and independent agencies to follow the Open Government Directive.

In any case, the CIA's new page is up, though it's looking a little sparse. So far it has a quote from President Obama about openness, links to Obama's memo, and it links to various previously released agency documents. The navigation is also a little strange--the navigation bar only displays the Open Government tab so long as you are on the page itself. (The front page of the CIA's site does have a handy "quick link" to the Open page.) 

But in any case, we're glad it's up. Better late than never, right?

To see which other agencies still need to comply, you can refer to our Transparency Tracker.

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