The official withdrawal of the United States from the Open Government Partnership (OGP) formalized what advocates, scholars, and watchdogs have been telling the American people from the last year: under President Trump, the executive branch of the United States government is no longer committed to government transparency, accountability, participation, and collaboration with the American people it serves. Official lies, corruption, and maladministration have become now the default, not the honesty, integrity, and trustworthy governance the public expects and deserves. 

Instead of working with the American people to co-create new commitments to improve good governance, fix the broken Freedom of Information Act, open access to the public information our government holds in trust for all Americans, or invest in classification reforms, the Trump administration is simply walking away from the table.

In the letter of withdrawal, General Services Administration Administrator Scott Forst claimed that OGP “erodes sovereignty,” is “demonstrably ineffective,” has “divisive ideological agendas,” “wastes money,” and “degrades democratic integrity.” While some of this is false, it is accurate to state that OGP has been ineffective in the United States and that the most recent national action plan contained many commitments unrelated to open government.We warned both the first Trump administration and Biden administration of significant issuesn during co-creation and implementation, to no avail. The story of the past decade is one of missed opportunities, opacity, lack of accountability for broken promises around past commitments, and systemic failures in collaboration, co-creation, and public engagement, as noted public comment filed at Regulations.gov. Responsibility for that outcome lies not just with President Trump and President Biden, but President Obama’s initial design of OGP, which left out Congress and the press.

This US government leaving OGP is no surprise, given the closure of the Federal Advisory Committee on Open Government that would have hosted this activity, dissolution of the Open Government Secretariat, lack of participation in OGP’s Summit, and illiberal claims about journalists and non-governmental organizations.

It is a confirmation, however, that this voluntary multi-stakeholder approach to improving government transparency and accountability in the executive branch is dead under this administration. In its place, Congress, the courts, the free press, watchdogs, and the American people will work together to make our government transparent and hold officials accountable for corruption under the rule of law.