Begin text Letting the Sun In Requesting Records Learning About Day-to-Day Operations Case Studies How U.S. Federal Agencies Touch Lives PAUL MALAMUD EDITOR THADDEUS A. MIKSINSKI, JR. ART DIRECTOR ELLEN M. KATZ IS A FREELANCE WRITER WHO WRITES FREQUENTLY ABOUT U.S. GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. PHOTO BY DALE WITTNER   (Posted December 1999) Transparency in Government - How American Citizens Influence Public Policy by Ellen M. Katz "A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."             - former U.S. President James Madison, 1822