DOD falls in line with Open Government Directive

Coming on the heels of the Dec. 8 rollout of the Open Government Directive, the Defense Department today said it is implementing a number of initiatives of its own to meet the newly established requirements for government transparency.

Last week DOD completed its transition to a new public Web page, www.defense.gov, which replaces www.defenselink.mil as a public portal to access to information related to DOD activities and other relevant communications. Anchored by a “We Want to Hear from You” section, the defense.gov home page features several interactive elements to engage visitors, including options to subscribe to the site’s RSS feed, visit the DODLive Blog and check out the social networking pages dedicated to various defense organizations. Users can also visit the Pentagon Channel, see frequently asked questions and ask questions of their own and get the latest news on DOD.

Additionally, the site includes an exhaustive index of links to organizations and offices within DOD and the military, which can be cross-referenced by topic and name of organization.

The department has contributed to the governmentwide data.gov project so far with nearly 200 links to RSS feeds, news, Pentagon updates and dispatches from global military commands and services, according to a DOD press release.

The release also said DOD is making information more transparent for the Federal Voting Assistance Program, which facilitates voting in federal elections for service members and other Americans living abroad. According to DOD, information has been posted on the program’s processes for voting from out of the country, as well as raw data about the votes themselves and the feedback on the voting process.