Watchdogs: FOIA exemptions climb 33%.

• Position: FOIA - Freedom of Information Act

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President Barack Obama wants to know how federal agencies plan to improve their records management programs by late March.

Secrecy still reigns at many U.S. agencies, despite President Barack Obama's attempts to make government records more transparent, according to two watchdog groups.

The report produced by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and OpentheGovernment.org revealed some agencies are relying more heavily on exemptions to withhold information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

According to The Federal Times, the study examined FOIA performance at 15 agencies in fiscal years 2008 and 2010. It found the nine statutory exemptions were used 33% more often in fiscal 2010--the first full fiscal year under Obama--than in fiscal 2008, the last full year of President George W. Bush's administration.

Without changes to the "culture of secrecy" still prevalent at many agencies, the Obama administration will fail to meet its goal of being the most transparent and accountable in history, said Anne Weismann, chief counsel at CREW.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which sets FOIA policy for the rest of the government, was one of the agencies citing some exemptions more frequently, the study found. The U.S. Department of the Treasury showed the most significant decline in its use of exemptions.

The report also found that agencies...