The Department of Justice will create a Freedom of Information Act dashboard to visually demonstrate the progress made by government agencies in processing FOIA requests.

The online “visual report card” was announced Wednesday as part of of the DOJ’s Open Government plan.

In December, the White House issued an open government directive, which required agencies to take public suggestions on increasing transparency. All agencies had to come up with an open government plan by April 7. The Justice Department used an online feedback system called Ideascale to set up a Web site, OpenDOJ, to gather suggestions from the public.

The DOJ’s “flagship initiative,” generated by a suggestion from a member of the public, will be the FOIA Dashboard, which will graphically display the progress of various government.

In a blog posting announcing the Open Government plan, DOJ’s new media specialist Tracy Russo highlighted three steps that the Justice Department will take immediately to increase transparency: making significant court filing available on the DOJ’s Web site; posting a calendar of the Attorney General’s meetings and activities; and publishing the underlying data that is summarized in office or division reports.

According to the plan, the DOJ Office of Public Affairs will post court filings as soon as they are filed to make them more accessible to the public.

“The public will often learn about these filings from news reports, but those reports rarely give adequate context, and even more rarely give direct access to the very actions they are describing,” the plan says. “Federal courts and numerous commercial services provide access to the documents, but often only at a cost and regularly only with some delay. The department is committed to making these papers more readily available. This information should be available to the public, so that Americans can review the documents themselves and gain a full understanding of the department’s actions.”

The Attorney General’s calendar will be posted on a monthly basis, though some sensitive meetings will not be noticed, Russo said.

“Redactions will be kept to a minimum, consistent with the principles laid out in the Attorney General’s FOIA Guidelines. While there will always be aspects of the Attorney General’s responsibilities that cannot be disclosed publicly, lest they compromise important national security, law enforcement or litigation interests, there is much that can, and should be, disclosed,” Russo wrote.

A PDF version of the plan is embedded below, and the Justice Department has created a Web site explaining the plan.

Doj Open Governement Plan

The Justice Department is evaluating recommendations from the public for increasing transparency as it finalizes its new open government plan.

In December, the White House issued an open government directive as part of its larger Open Government Initiative. The directive requires agencies to take suggestions from the public about how to be more transparent and come up with an open government plan by April 7.

Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli is leading a working group to oversee development of the DOJ’s plan.

The Justice Department used an online feedback system called Ideascale to set up a Web site, OpenDOJ, to gather suggestions from the public. According to the OpenDOJ Web site, the working group will incorporate “as many of these ideas as are feasible” into the plan.

“The ideas are being examined based on a variety of criteria, including to see how well they serve the department’s broader mission, whether or not our current resources would support the implementation of the suggestions and whether the suggestion would truly ‘open up’ the department,” said spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler.

Some ideas offered by individuals on the OpenDOJ site are more likely to be included than others. One suggestion would have Attorney General Eric Holder make his daily schedule public, as is done by the State Department and by the White House. Several other suggestions involve the Freedom of Information Act, including a proposal that previously released FOIA documents be organized and published on the Justice Department’s Web site.

Other ideas unlikely to make the cut: a popular proposal that the Justice Department live stream all meetings online.

The Justice Department has some special circumstances to consider, according to Schmaler.

“In evaluating the release of any department information, we must balance the interests of transparency with the need to protect sensitive law enforcement and national security matters and information,” Schmaler said.

The department also leads the effort to encourage agencies throughout the administration to comply with Holder’s FOIA guidelines.

On the heels of an ad critical of the Justice Department and Attorney General Eric Holder put out by a group led by Liz Cheney, former Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter, a human rights group is hitting back with a parody video that accuses Cheney’s group of using scare tactics.

Human Rights First goes after Keep America Safe, the group led by Cheney in a new video, “Keep America Afraid,” embedded below.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department is using new media tools to argue in favor of using the criminal justice system to prosecute terrorists.

“As a counter-terrorism tool, the criminal justice system has proven incredibly effective in both incapacitating terrorists and gathering valuable intelligence from and about terrorists,” writes Tracy Russo on the DOJ blog. “In every instance, the administration will use the tool that is most effective for fighting terrorism, and will make those decisions based on pragmatism, not ideology.”

Applying lessons from Barack Obama’s tech-savvy presidential campaign, the administration is working to revamp the federal government’s out-dated Web sites, with the Justice Department the latest to undergo a makeover.

DOJ Web Site

Last month the department unveiled a new logo, and new black-and-gold color theme, information organized in a more user-friendly manner and — in a major innovation for government — a big presence on social-networking sites.

In less than a month, the Justice Department has gained about 92,000 followers on the microblogging site Twitter, 1,400 Facebook fans, and 500 MySpace friends. The department was the fifth federal agency to join Twitter.

In 2008, Obama’s presidential campaign made novel use of social media — including texting, email, contests, videos, and blogs — to keep his supporters engaged, informed, connected and donating money.

Republicans have lagged in using social media in political campaigns. Now, as the Obama Justice Department applies some of these same techniques to its government communications strategy, conservative reaction ranges from grudging respect to conspiracy theories.

Mark Corallo

“Had we done something like this under Attorney General Ashcroft and President Bush, the howls would be deafening,” said Mark Corallo, who served as spokesman for Attorney General John Ashcroft and now works at his consulting firm, The Ashcroft Group. But as Corallo scanned the new site, he added: “This is truly professional. This is really well done.”

The brains behind the new design is Tracy Russo, who was in charge of blogger outreach for John Edwards‘ 2008 presidential campaign. In May, the department hired Russo to handle new media and oversee the site design. The position, in the Office of Public Affairs, is new. Russo, a former blogger for the Democratic National Committee, did not return calls and e-mails seeking comment.

The Web site is graphically driven and more intuitive than its predecessor. The new visual elements include professional photos of DOJ events and personnel, videos, and a new blog covers DOJ officials’ speeches and appearances.

Users can access videos of Holder, Deputy Attorney General David Ogden and Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli – on the site and on a DOJ YouTube channel – explaining their jobs and the department’s mission. Soaring music fills the background.  One video is aimed solely at highlighting the public service of department employees. “Everyday they come to work thinking, ‘How do I do the right thing for the government?’” Ogden tells an invisible interviewer.

“It’s a very slick public relations campaign, but if it the department can do this and show America a 21st Century approach to communicating the mission, I give them a standing ovation,” Corallo said.

Matt Miller, director of the department’s Office of Public Affairs, said that updating the site and venturing into new media were priorities early on, and that they had “nothing to do with public relations.”

“This is a question of being open and transparent,” he said.

But some conservatives have condemned the changes. “The Obama Justice Department’s Secret Blogging Team — Is It Illegal?” was the headline on a recent post by blogger Warner Todd Huston, who added: “Eric Holder has created his own little propaganda unit.”

DOJ's Twitter Page

The site bears resemblance to whitehouse.gov or any modern Web site, really — uncluttered and dynamic, with a blog prominently displayed on the main page. Miller said the department looked for best practices but did not consult with other agencies or the White House.

The department did not provide Main Justice with figures related to costs; Miller said the efforts drew on existing contracts and in-house staff. Pragmatics, Inc., an IT company based in McLean, Va., had five employees working on the blog, which runs on the WordPress platform, according to this privacy impact study.

DOJ Public Affairs maintains the social-networking accounts. As Larry Magid at CNET pointed out here, the Justice Department’s decision to join MySpace was particularly significant.

With Obama in the White House, it’s no longer unusual for government agencies to communicate via social media services, but today’s announcement that the Justice Department is now on MySpace is something of a milestone. For years, MySpace was under intense pressure from law enforcement officials from all levels of government to clean up what some considered to be a breeding ground for dangerous and criminal activity.

On both Facebook and MySpace, users can post comments on the department’s pages. On MySpace, there is an open forum. People have posted solicitations, requests for criminal investigations, aspersions, messages of gratitude and cat pictures.

“How sad it is that a government organization is on myspace… propaganda is becoming easier every day….,” wrote one user.

Another enthused: “I think it’s a great idea to set up a MySpace page for this kind of content. I wish everyone at the DoJ a wonderful day; thanks for everything you do!”

DOJ's MySpace Page

The department’s Web site was last updated in the middle of the Bush administration. But it lacked horsepower and offered little aesthetically. Other agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security, were years ahead.

A working group was formed to explore legal and privacy issues related to new media, laying the foundation for DOJ 2.0. But the department under Bush had less of an appetite for a major overhaul, said former Justice officials. One concern was that the efforts would be perceived as political, said a former DOJ communications official.

“DOJ was clearly antiquated in its ability to communicate,” said the former official. “But these are the kind of changes that make a lot of noise. They can appear political, and therein lies the challenge.”

Pete Snyder, the CEO of New Media Strategies, suggested a formula: “About 80 percent of the time, you should be informing the public. Twenty percent of the time, it should be about pushing your message.”

Snyder, a former GOP pollster and media consultant, said it was too early to tell how the department was deploying its new media.

Still, he offered measured praise.

“[The department] can communicate with millions now versus what it used to be 15 or 20 years ago when you had community liasons going out there and having coffee,” Snyder said. “With the right leadership, this could be a great thing.”

Stephen Farnsworth, a professor of communication at George Mason University said concerns about the Justice Department’s efforts were misplaced. The new site reflects the evolution of technology and “somewhat different message delivery” used by the Democratic and Republican parties, said Farnsworth, author of ”Spinner in Chief: How Presidents Sell Their Policies and Themselves.”

There’s a huge difference between the [Democratic National Committee's] Web site and the Justice Department’s — as there should be,” he said.

You remember the Justice Department’s old Web site? Very dawn-of-the-Internet…unintuitive…bleak.

Well, check out the department’s new, glossy digs. Here’s the announcement — on the Justice Department’s blog — from Tracy Russo, the architect of the site and blogger outreach coordinator in the Office of Public Affairs:

Welcome to the new Justice.gov. If you’re a regular visitor to our site, you’ll notice some changes today. If you are joining us for the first time, welcome.

The Department of Justice launches Justice.gov today in an effort to increase openness and transparency in government. Utilizing a variety of online tools, we will be able to share news and information, not just on our own web site, but through popular social networks Twitter, YouTube and MySpace and Facebook. The Justice presence on these social networks will allow Americans to interact with the Department in entirely new ways.

The new Justice.gov has incorporated more multimedia than ever before. You’ll find a photo gallery and video library that will be regularly updated with new content from across the Department of Justice. And of course, The Justice Blog will be a hub of information for the Department.

We are all excited by these new opportunities. Today’s launch is just the first step towards creating the most open, accessible and transparent Justice Department possible. We welcome your feedback about the new site and your ideas for the future.

Awesome. Does this mean the DOJ will cough up a few of our long overdue Freedom of Information Act requests? Or grant your humble Main Justice groupees some of our interview requests? We promise to Twitter everything for you!

Mary Jacoby contributed to this report.

The Department of Justice —  the battered plaything of political bloggers during the Bush administration —  has hired a ”new media” outreach expert to steer the Obama administration through online policy debates over torture, Guantanamo Bay and whatever else comes up, reports Greg Sargent at The Plum Line.

The new position will be filled by Democratic communications expert Tracy Russo. Russo was chief blogger (yes, that was her real title) and deputy director of online communications for the John Edwards presidential campaign. We’ve asked DOJ Public Affairs Director Matt Miller, himself a long-time Democratic political aide, to let us know more about what Russo will be doing beyond keeping an eye out for brewing on-line tempests.

Tracy Russo

Until we hear back, we’ll just whistle a few tunes from this “blogger outreach” show we remember from our own years as a political reporter. We’re not saying this is how it will work at the DOJ. But in campaigns, the blogger “outreach” people are something like zoo keepers. At regular intervals, they open the online cages and throw in policy papers or news releases. Sometimes the campaigns even hold special blogger-only conference calls. 

Sated and happy (it’s so cool to have access!), and dazzled to have information from a source other than Google, the bloggers start writing fewer conspiracy theories. They become less hostile when the campaign’s paid bloggers join their online conversations. The paid campaign bloggers then subtly start spinning their candidates’ talking points.

Soon, the bloggers are as tame as the mainstream media (“MSM,” in blogger speak). They start going on TV. And to the White House Correspondents Association Dinner.  Where they hobnob with the same Washington, D.C., insiders who once used to be the exclusive dates of the MSM. That’s right – the same MSM the bloggers once screamed were too close to their sources. Because they socialized with them. Just like the bloggers are now doing. And which the bloggers find is actually fun. And useful. So now it’s not so bad to go to the White House Correspondents Dinner, even if you’re a blogger.

You can read Russo’s bio from the Huffington Post below:

Tracy Russo, President of Russo Strategies,LLC, is well known for her online outreach work and her ability to integrate online communications and new media opportunities with all aspects of traditional campaigns and organizations. Advocating an approach that involves all aspects of the organization, she devises online communications strategies that exceed goals, enhance operations, and regularly engage a wide audience of activists, stakeholders and supporters.

As the Chief Blogger and Deputy Director of Online Communications for the John Edwards for President Campaign, she directed and executed an online communications and outreach strategy that targeted national, niche and local bloggers, online media outlets, social networks and activists. Her work has been routinely praised as the best in the field. She also helped to develop and execute an aggressive online fundraising strategy and mobile media plan.

Prior to joining the Edwards campaign, Russo worked at the Democratic National Committee where she wrote and edited the DNC blog and implemented a 50-state online outreach strategy. She advised Democratic candidates and state parties on ways to enhance their online communications and outreach capacities and effectively connect with the progressive blogosphere.

Russo is also the founder of WIPT, Women in Politics and Technology, an all women, member-driven organization that seeks to connect women working at the crossroads of politics and technology, provide support and resources to women in these industries and, encourage more women, especially young women, to enter the fields of politics and technology.

She has been a featured speaker at the Personal Democracy Forum, the YearlyKos Convention, the Take Back America Conference and the Center for American Progress’ Internet Advocacy Roundtable. In addition, she has trained hundreds of individuals in the best practices of online engagement in partnership with a variety of organizations, including the DNC, DLCC, EMILY’s List, George Washington University, the New Organizing Institute and Campaign and Elections Magazine. She is also a regular contributor to the award-winning blog at TechPresident.com.

Russo has a diverse professional background – she has worked in both the political and non-profit worlds, in a variety of roles from field organizer, to fundraiser, to press secretary – all of which inform her current work. She is a native of Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Boca Raton, Florida where she first began blogging in 1999.

UPDATE: Mary Jacoby wrote through an earlier version of this post by Farhan Daredia. The byline on it has since been changed.