House Subcommittee Hearing: “The State of the [Freedom of Information Act]: Assessing Agency Efforts to Meet FOIA Requirements” – On February 14, 2007, the Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, in the House of Representatives held a hearing entitled “The State of the FOIA: Assessing Agency Efforts to Meet FOIA Requirements.” Testifying on behalf of the executive branch were Melanie Ann Pustay, Acting Director, Office of Information and Privacy, Department of Justice and Linda Koontz, Director, Information Management, Government Accountability Office. Ms. Pustay detailed steps taken by the Department of Justice to ensure Governmentwide compliance with both the FOIA and Executive Order 13,392, “Improving Agency Disclosure of Information.” See Statement of Ms. Pustay (February 15, 2007). Ms. Koontz reported on GAO’s recent findings concerning agency FOIA Improvement Plans created under the Executive Order. The second panel of witnesses consisted of private sector witnesses from the Sunshine in Government Initiative, American Civil Liberties Union, and the National Security Archive at George Washington University.” (posted 3/5/07)