whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or

judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and

willfully--

        (1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or

    device a material fact;

        (2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent

    statement or representation; or

        (3) makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same

    to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement

    or entry;

shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.

 

In other words, knowingly and willfully lying to the government is a crime that is subject to substantial penalties.

 

There is no provision that imposes similar penalties on government officials who knowingly and willfully lie to the people. If we had such a law, many governmental abuses might well have been prevented. If not, we would at least have a mechanism for holding the offending officials accountable.

 

Truthfulness in government is a vital issue across the entire spectrum of governmental activity - from the decision to go to war, to the approach to global warming, to the safety of approved drugs, to the environmental impact of mining, to the entitlement to governmental benefits, etc.... The consequences of governmental lying obviously can be devastating to individual citizens and to the people as a whole.

 

Transparency can make a great contribution to the quality of our government. It may reduce the opportunities for obfuscation and outright lying. Another crucial element of good government, however, is accountability. The best way to ensure that is to have clear standards of conduct and precisely defined consequences for failing to meet them. We need to establish a clear legal mandate for truthfulness of our government in its relationship with the people.

 

A “reverse” False Statement statute would need to be carefully crafted, and would probably have to contain some clearly defined exceptions. One of the essential elements, however, must be the ability of ordinary citizens to file complaints. These complaints should be assigned to an independent section of the Justice Department for a formal response within a specified period of time. That section could then submit a recommendation for or against prosecution to the appropriate U.S Attorney, subject to some right of appeal by the complaining citizen

 

Restoring confidence in our government requires not only enhancements in transparency as proposed by the Obama administration, but also a clear legal standard for truthfulness on the part of government officials.