Open Government policy privacy
Senate Adopts Leahy's Open Government Amendment
The Senate has unanimously adopted an amendment authored by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to the National Defense Authorization Act. Senator Leahy's amendment will limit an overbroad legislative exemption to the Freedom of Information Act. The amendment requires the Secretary of Defense to consider whether the disclosure of critical infrastructure information would reveal vulnerabilities that would result in harm to government property or facilities, and whether the public interest in the disclosure of this information outweighs the government’s need to withhold the information. The Senate will vote on final passage of the National Defense Authorization Act later this evening. For more information, see EPIC: Open Government.