Archives Taps FOIA Ombudsman
Former American Library Association legislative counsel Miriam Nisbet has been tapped to become director of a new office within the National Archives and Records Administration that will mediate disputes under the Freedom of Information Act. Congress created the Office of Government Information Services in 2007. Nisbet most recently served as the director of the information society division at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), where she worked on issues of global access to information and digital libraries. She also served as secretary of the Intergovernmental Council for the Information for All Programme. Nisbet previously worked at NARA from 1993 to 1999 where she first occupied the post of special assistant to the Archivist of the United States and then special counsel for information policy.
She was staff attorney at the National Association of Attorneys General in the late 1970s before joining the Department of Justice from 1978 to 1994 where her past position was deputy director of the Office of Information and Privacy. "While the federal FOIA mediator's office is still a long way from mediating its first FOIA dispute, it took a strong step forward today with the naming of its new director," said Sunshine in Government Initiative coordinator Rick Blum whose group represents nine associations that work for openness and transparency in government. "She's a long-time advocate for open government, and this is a promising start for those who want the FOIA to work better."
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