The Obama administration to some extent is delivering on its promise of greater government transparency, according to a new report card by a coalition of anti-secrecy groups.

"The record to date is mixed, but some indicators are trending in the right direction," says the report, released today by OpenTheGovernment.org.

The governmentwide backlog of Freedom of Information Act requests tumbled more than 40 percent from 133,295 in fiscal 2008 to 77,377 in fiscal 2009, for example. Also, the government made 183,224 original decisions to classify documents, the lowest number since fiscal 1999. The report cites as further examples of open government efforts a December executive order mandating creation of a National Declassification Center, and an Office of Management and Budget requirement that federal agencies come up with open government plans.

From the perspective of open government graders, not all the trend lines were positive. Some 73 percent of federal advisory committee meetings were closed to the public, an increase of about 5.5 percent from fiscal 2008. Also 16 percent — or $35.2 billion — of the Defense Department's fiscal 2009 weapons acquisition budget fell into the "black" category that is classified. That is up from 14 percent in fiscal 2008 but down from 19 percent in fiscal 2003 and 2004.

The report covers the last months of the Bush administration and the first months of the Obama administration, which took office in January 2009.