Though secretarial calendars have been provided to the American people to promote government transparency, Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has provided only 55 entries spanning 11 days on her public calendar on the DOI website.
Haaland was sworn in as secretary of the interior on March 17.
The entries that exist are vague, with many of them that have been made available to the public simply stating, "Throughout the day Secretary Haaland attended meetings and briefings at the Department of the Interior."
On her very first day as press secretary in January, Jen Psaki spoke about the Biden Administration being focused on bringing transparency back to Washington, a sentiment that many have said has not been adhered to.
Early last month, a letter to Haaland by members of the House Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources requested her to adhere to the promise of transparency and release a detailed daily calendar of her actions as secretary.
A similar lack of transparency was noted during the Trump Administration, as Congress was critical of then-Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt for not maintaining a calendar. At that time, Bernhardt said he had no legal obligation to do so, CNN reported in March 2019.
In September 2021, watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust filed a lawsuit seeking records from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request regarding Haaland’s travel records and calendar. The group cited that the secretary’s calendar had been regularly posted in detail on the Interior Department’s website during the two previous administrations.
Protect the Public’s Trust highlighted this apparent inconsistency and suggested it may be due to “potential interference by political appointees.”
While Haaland had criticized the former interior secretary for a lack of transparency in his calendars, her leadership has seemingly resulted in a similar lack of disclosure.
Part of Haaland's calendar is available under an FOIA page on the Department of the Interior's website.
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva did not respond to Interior Newswire's requests for comment on the matter.
