POGO and Public Denied -- Who's at Fault?

WOW, what great timing! Yesterday’s breaking story on the new twist to the Defense Department's (DoD’s) revolving door shocked many and has resulted in a call from several members of Congress for a review of the Pentagon's mentorship program. POGO has long been concerned with the revolving door issue, and had asked the Obama administration to make a DoD revolving door database public and also submitted a public comment urging government officials to do the same. Today, DoD finalized that rule, and denied POGO’s request for public access.

In their explanation, DoD kinda threw Congress under the bus:

One source submitted comments on the interim rule. That source supported the rule and its objectives, but recommended that the central database/repository for retention of written ethics opinions, required by section 847(b), be made publicly available. DoD has not adopted this recommendation, as section 847 does not authorize access to the database by the general public.

 
I don't recall, however, that Congress expressly denied public access to data – the law merely states that DoD create an ethics opinion database. Actually, I held hope that the Obama Administration's focus on openness, transparency, good contracting, and eliminating special interest clout in government decisions would rule the day, and that the people would triumph.

Maybe Obama’s lofty goals haven’t trickled down to all parts of the government, but what’s the harm in seeing a list of former government officials who are now working for defense contractors? We have campaign finance and lobbying disclosure – why not expose those circulating between the public and private sectors who might be a driving force behind government decisions and policies? Wait, I just answered my own question.

-- Scott Amey