BOB GARFIELD: And I'm Bob Garfield.

[CLIPS]

MALE CORRESPONDENT: You know, the White House has said this 100-day thing doesn't really mean anything, and yet they've sure made a lot of it all day.

[LAUGHTER]

MALE CORRESPONDENT: You could say it’s been a bit more than three months or you could say 14, 15 weeks or so. But somehow 100 days became the convention.

MALE CORRESPONDENT: They that wanted to call the 100-day marker a Hallmark holiday, sort of a meaningless holiday that they feel like they're stuck celebrating, but they no longer look like they're stuck about it. They're almost acting as if it’s a victory lap.

MALE CORRESPONDENT: This whole notion of 100 days – has the White House kind of embraced this notion?

FEMALE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, they have come out and said, oh, this is just a Hallmark card anniversary, but, in fact, they've decided to take advantage of it. Witness the fact the President’s holding a news conference tonight. We've all had conversations –

[END CLIPS]

BOB GARFIELD: We at OTM also want to exploit the 100-day marker to look at just how transparent this administration, which promised to be the most see-through ever, really is. At Obama’s Wednesday night press conference, he issued a public explanation for his administration’s invocation of the State Secrets Privilege, through which the government can scuttle a court case on grounds that it might endanger national security.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I actually think that the State Secrets doctrine should be modified. I think right now it’s overbroad. But keep in mind what happens is we come into office, we're in for a week, and suddenly we've got a court filing that’s coming up. And so we don't have the time to effectively think through what exactly should an overarching reform of that doctrine take. We've got to respond to the immediate case in front of us.

BOB GARFIELD: Okay, but that’s why courts grant extensions. So notes Elizabeth Goitein of the Brennan Center for Justice, who coauthored a transparency report card on the Obama Administration’s first 100 days. She joins us. Elizabeth, welcome to On the Media.

ELIZABETH GOITEIN: Thank you.

BOB GARFIELD: You gave the Obama administration an F for its use of State Secrets. Does his explanation at the press conference at all make you want to change his grade?

ELIZABETH GOITEIN: If the administration is serious about discontinuing this extreme use of the State Secrets Privilege, then that is commendable and it is certainly good news. However, I do feel that his explanation, that he essentially did not have time to come up with a position on State Secrets, is a little bit difficult to reconcile. Even if the administration hadn't come to a final position on this issue in the last few weeks, it’s not clear why they would default to the very most extreme version of the privilege rather than just asking the court for more time to work out their position.

BOB GARFIELD: The State Secrets grade was part of a broader accountability category in the report card. Could you go through the other areas where you believe the administration isn't making the grade?

ELIZABETH GOITEIN: Sure. The fact that the administration has thus far defended the legal provision granting immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperated with the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. When Obama was in the Senate, he was adamant that immunity for telecom companies was completely indefensible, and the administration has now filed a brief in court defending the constitutionality of immunity for the telecom companies.

BOB GARFIELD: Now, the report card isn't all bad. For example, one place the administration is doing very well on disclosure is its stance towards FOIA requests and, in particular, the release of those controversial torture memos.

ELIZABETH GOITEIN: Yes, the release of the torture memos has been an excellent step in the right direction, not only because it enables the public to see what was at issue in some of these policies that we've heard so much about but also because of the broader signal that he is not going to continue the Bush Administration’s reliance on secret law, because these opinions are more than just descriptions of policies. These opinions are authoritative legal interpretations that are binding on the entire executive branch, so they have the force of law, and to have legal tools like these kept secret from the public is a real problem.

BOB GARFIELD: Now, this may seem trivial, but one area where you do give the administration an excellent grade is for simply releasing the President’s schedule, letting the public know not just where he’s cutting ribbons but also to whom he’s giving Oval Office access.

ELIZABETH GOITEIN: Right, because when you just put together a list of all of the President’s public appearances, which is what has happened under past administrations, you really don't learn anything more than you would learn from picking up the newspaper. And what you really don't learn is what are the priorities of the administration, in terms of what are the policies they're working on. Who are they meeting with? What interests are they listening to? And so, having that information really does provide you with much more insight.

BOB GARFIELD: Now, at the risk of sounding overprotective of our Barry, do you in no way give credence to his explanation that he is, you know, at the moment running two wars, an economy in flames, and that getting the Comptroller General up to speed on the State Secrets Privilege, you know, might not necessarily be his first priority at the moment?

ELIZABETH GOITEIN: You know, I think it’s really too early to say, but I do think that transparency is such a key part of restoring the rule of law that it really needs to be a priority for him, understanding, obviously, that his [LAUGHS] plate is very full. But this really is one of the top priority items, and it is an item that his administration has, you know, in the past, many, many times set as a priority for them as well.

BOB GARFIELD: Well, Elizabeth, thank you very much.

ELIZABETH GOITEIN: Thank you, Bob.

BOB GARFIELD: Elizabeth Goitein is Director of the Liberty and National Security Project at the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law.