The White House is expected to announce the removal of a federal regulation that allows the public to obtain information from one of its administrative offices.

In a notice to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, March 17, the White House says the move to exempt the Office of Administration from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is consistent with a court ruling issued by a federal appeals court in 2008, which ruled that the Office of Administration, under the Executive Office of the President, is not subject to FOIA because it "performs only operational and administrative tasks in support of the president and his staff" and "lacks substantial independent authority."

"The Executive Office of the President, Office of Administration, is removing regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations related to the status of records created and maintained by the Executive Office of the President," the notice states (pdf). "This action is being taken in order to align Office of Administration policy with well-settled legal interpretations of the Office of Administration's status under Federal law and executive orders."

However, the timing of the impending announcement couldn't have been more peculiar, as Sunday saw the start of Sunshine Week, during which watchdog groups and media organizations promote transparency in government, and Monday is National Freedom of Information Day.

"This step makes mockery of that commitment [to transparency], especially given that it's Sunshine Week," said Anne Weismann, interim executive director and senior counsel of the liberal Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), in a statement to The Hill. "The White House has reversed a decades-long practice of opening the files of OA to the public. Apparently, they have abandoned even the appearance of transparency."

For 30 years, the Office of Administration has voluntarily subjected itself to FOIA and responded to information requests from media organizations and watchdog groups until the term of Pres. George W. Bush, when CREW filed a case against the White House over some 22 million emails that were removed from its servers apparently due to a computer glitch. The office initially complied with CREW's FOIA request but later on changed its course.

"This is an office that operated under the FOIA for 30 years, and when it became politically inconvenient, they decided they weren't subject to the Freedom of Information Act any more," said Tom Fitton of the conservative Judicial Watch.

Despite having bannered an "unprecedented level of openness" during his campaign, Pres. Barack Obama continued with Bush's "discretionary disclosure" policy and will ultimately make the policy an official rule on Tuesday.

"Over the past six years, federal agencies have gone to great efforts to make government more transparent and more accessible than ever, including by making more information available to the public via our Open Government initiative and improving the FOIA process," said Brandi Hoffine, a White House spokesperson.

However, a report by the Associated Press made last year shows the White House denied more FOIA requests in 2014 than in 2013 and cited more legal reasons for denying requests.

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