The leaders of most major federal agencies failed to disclose any information about their daily schedules to the public during President Joe Biden’s first year in office, a watchdog group revealed in a report Tuesday morning.
The Biden administration’s overall failure to disclose the daily affairs of top officials, including their meetings with outside groups and individuals, hampers the public’s ability to determine whether agency leaders are serving the public’s interest and are acting within ethical boundaries, Protect the Public’s Trust reported.
“Considering all aspects, the Biden Administration’s Cabinet is largely failing to live up to their transparency goals,” the watchdog group said in its report. “Nearly every Department PPT reviewed simply does not offer the public a meaningful opportunity to hold the agency accountable in a timely manner when it comes to major policy decisions and concerns over potential misconduct.”
The watchdog group found that the leaders of 12 of the 19 federal agencies it analyzed failed to provide any information to the public on their daily schedules. Notable officials that received failing marks include Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
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Only one agency leader, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan, received passing marks on each of the four calendar transparency metrics the watchdog assessed.
The leaders of many Trump-era federal agencies would have also received failing marks for calendar transparency as well, the watchdog noted in its report. However, some Biden administration agency leaders disclosed less information about their daily schedules to the public than their predecessors who served under the Trump administration, the watchdog group found.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, for example, has not disclosed any information about his daily schedule to the public since his confirmation in March, while the calendars for his predecessors, former Attorneys General William Barr and Jeff Sessions, are available in the Department of Justice’s Freedom of Information Act Library.
And while Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has not released his calendar to the public, his agency’s website currently discloses the annual calendars for his predecessors who served between 2009 and 2018.
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“Transparency is a foundational element of the American system of government,” Protect the Public’s Trust Director Michael Chamberlain said in a statement. “It’s also important for agencies to be proactive about providing this information, which is vital for the American public’s ability to ascertain who is influencing policymakers at the highest levels.”
“Every agency we looked at has room for improvement. We’re hopeful that by PPT shining the light on current and former practices at these agencies they will pursue those improvements,” Chamberlain added.
