BOB GARFIELD: This is On the Media. I'm Bob Garfield.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: And I'm Brooke Gladstone. This was Sunshine Week, designated as such by news organizations, universities, legislators, bloggers and advocacy groups around the country who want us to celebrate and safeguard the public's right to know. There have been editorials printed, conferences convened, and rallying cries aplenty for citizens to do their part to ensure that the government comes out of the shadows and into the light.

BOB GARFIELD: On behalf of Sunshine Week, the Ipsos Public Affairs Center conducted a poll that shows 70 percent of Americans, (quote) "are concerned about government secrecy." It ran a similar poll in 2000, with similar results. It turns out, 9/11 did not change the way we think about government openness. Although Americans are concerned about national security, it seems they don't feel safer when they are kept in the dark.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Several measures designed to combat excessive secrecy have been floated on Capitol Hill. Among them are two bills co-sponsored by Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy and Republican Senator John Cornyn. The first is the Open Government Act, designed to re-invigorate the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA. For decades, people have filed FOIA requests to gain access to government documents, but as you've heard noted on this show many times, the flow of documents from FOIA requests has slowed to a trickle in recent years. Senator Cornyn of Texas says it's beyond time to unclog that pipeline.

JOHN CORNYN: Well, that's right. Yeah, the Freedom of Information Act was passed in 1966, and the last oversight hearing Congress has had on the Freedom of Information Act was 1992, so it needs a little tune-up.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: But there is another piece of legislation that you're sponsoring, and that's called the Faster FOIA Act of 2005, so what would that accomplish that the first bill doesn't?

JOHN CORNYN: Well the Faster FOIA Act would create a 16 member commission to look at the reasons for delays in government responses to freedom of information requests; I came from the attorney general's office in Texas, where I was the one responsible for interpreting and enforcing our Open Records Act. But, when I came to Washington, I found a different attitude entirely and heard horror stories about people who had made requests, then still waiting for a response years later.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: How long?

JOHN CORNYN: In many instances, seven, eight years. There's simply no incentive for people to comply with the deadline set out in the Freedom of Information Act, and what Senator Leahy, my co-sponsor, and I tried to do in a bi-partisan way, is to provide incentives, to provide additional training, to provide for an ombudsman that would assist both the requester and the agency, to try to work out differences, and then, if all else fails, to provide for the recovery of some attorneys' fees if government remained obstinate and didn't comply with the law.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Why do you think FOIA is so backed up now? Do you think it's due to a lack of staff and resources? Or is it just plain stonewalling? Because we do know that John Ashcroft, when he was head of the Justice Department, sent a directive saying that the emphasis should be on reasons why to release that information rather than, as was formerly, reasons why not.

JOHN CORNYN: Well, you're right. And unfortunately, I think it was perhaps an over-reaction, post 9/11. I think that the presumption ought to be in favor of openness, and if there's justification for keeping it closed, then it ought to be on the government to provide that justification, not put the burden on the requester, as is the current situation.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Other than proposing legislation, what do you think the role of Congress is in all of this? I'm talking about oversight. We've spoken to a lot of investigative journalists who feel very frustrated that Congress has done a far poorer job than it used to in providing oversight. I wonder how your colleagues feel about the Faster FOIA Act and the Open Government Act. Do you think they'll be with you on it?

JOHN CORNYN: Well, I certainly hope so. We voted the Faster FOIA Act out of the Judiciary Committee, and my hope is that with very little additional work, we're able to get it passed out of the Senate. And I don't know who is telling you about the glory days of the past when Congress used to do [LAUGHTER] more extensive oversight. I can tell you just about my experience in the last couple of years, and that there's simply not enough time for Congress, under our current practice, to do the kind of oversight that I would like. But the fact is that congressional oversight is a poor substitute for open government.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: It's very interesting that your bill allows the FOIA fees to be waived or reduced for bloggers and other writers on the web, just as they are for journalists. So will, then, bloggers be treated as mainstream journalists?

JOHN CORNYN: It's harder and harder to determine who is actually qualified to act as a journalist, and certainly it's not government's responsibility to try to decide who is and who is not. But clearly, bloggers have entered into the mainstream. They, as citizen activists, not necessarily as professional journalists, need to be able to get access to information as well.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Now, as you mentioned, Patrick Leahy was your co-sponsor on this bill and on the other bill. But he's also proposing a third bill related to freedom of information that would basically get rid of a post-9/11 law that exempts private companies from having to disclose so-called "critical infrastructure information" submitted to the Homeland Security Department. In practice, companies have been taking advantage of this exemption to shield themselves from all sorts of public scrutiny. Why aren't you on board with that one?

JOHN CORNYN: Well, I'm still looking at that, and I may eventually be. And of course, you described it accurately. It was part of the act that created the Department of Homeland Security. I recognize that there is need for public access to information, but honestly, we don't want to let our enemies get information that they can use to hurt us, so in a post-9/11 world, I think that calls for some caution. But on the other hand, I think, as evidenced by the other two bills that Senator Leahy and I are on, that we recognize that there is a broad consensus that there is too much secrecy generally, and too little justification.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Senator, thanks so much for your time.

JOHN CORNYN: I certainly appreciate it. Take care.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Senator John Cornyn is the Republican sponsor of the Cornyn-Leahy Faster FOIA Act and the Open Government Act. [MUSIC]

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