UPDATE ONE: Secretive and Harmful Sums Up the CDC Lyme Corps Program Greetings from Jenna, Thank you very much for your actions and support. This petition is part of a larger communications I have made to federal officials, elected politicians and the White House. In future updates, I will share with you those communications and the responses I receive…or do not receive. In this first update, I will share why I find the Lyme Corps program to be secretive. My views are informed by three decades of professional experience in over 40 countries. My areas of expertise include government transparency and accountability and the integration of marginalized groups across all sectors, including health. I have assessed and evaluated numerous US federal government programs. I have also worked on classified federal programs and publications. In my experience, accessing general information about an active federal program is straightforward. Lyme Corps is an active program; its implementation began in 2013 and it appears to be on-going. This general information is, by law, accessible to all members of the public. General information includes: the program description and what it plans to accomplish, the geographic areas where the program is being implemented, when activities will be implemented, annual and quarterly reports, assessments and evaluations of the program, the annual funding and overall budget, the names of partner institutions and the numbers of intended clients or beneficiaries. General program information is usually gathered by going to the Agency’s website and typing in the name of the program. Sometimes a few quick calls to the Agency’s general information desk will yield additional links, contacts or sources. In January 2016, I (and others) made several attempts to gain general information about the Lyme Corps program from the CDC. The CDC has a high media profile and its website is regularly updated. However, unlike most CDC public outreach programs, Lyme Corps has no reference links on the CDC website. Persistent calls to 1-800-CDC-INFO engaged information specialists unable to access information about the program or provide a phone number to reach the Division of Vector-Borne Diseases (DVBD) that implements Lyme Corps. However, on the CDC webpage for the DVBD, there is a brochure link [see http://www.cdc.gov/ ncezid/dvbd/pdf/dvbd_factsheet.pdf] that gives the DVBD phone number (970) 221-6400. I called the DVBD as a member of the general public to make general inquiries. The DVBD staff called, including Lyme Corps epidemiologist Cristina Nelson, did not share any information about Lyme Corps. One person asked we submit a written request from our affiliated institution to gain this general information. It is highly unusual for the DVBD to demand a formalized written request for general program information. There are circumstances where information is restricted. For example, information is highly controlled when government activities are classified. Activities can have differing levels of classification and are classified for a number of reasons. There are stringent rules that govern public access to information about classified federal programs and publications. There are also stringent rules that govern public access to information about non-classified federal programs and publications. Lyme Corps is not a classified program. Lyme Corps is a public outreach program that is supposed to educate health care providers and the public about Lyme disease. As such, general information about an active non-classified program does not require a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request or depend upon giving personal information such as institutional affiliations. Such profiling is absolutely irrelevant for public access to general program information. In summary, Lyme Corps appears to be secretive. Its general information is far less accessible than that of other CDC public outreach programs and it does not conform to federal standards for transparency of non-classified activities. Perhaps this secretive quality will evaporate now that more of us are aware of the Lyme Corps program. Thank you! Jenna