Cabinet officials frequently talk to citizens online

Since we last updated this promise in late 2009, more Cabinet officials have gotten in on the Internet town hall act. The federal departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, and State were early participants. Now add to those Interior, Energy, Commerce, Homeland Security, Labor, and Housing and Urban Development.

The White House provided us an extensive list of online events hosted by cabinet secretaries in the past two years, plus one from the end of 2009. There are, frankly, too many to list. Here's a sampling:

• Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis Answers Questions on New Regulatory Agenda, Dec. 7, 2009

• Aviation Safety with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, March 9, 2010

• Entrepreneurship and Innovation with Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Nov. 19, 2010

• America's Great Outdoors with Secs. Salazar and Vilsack, March 17, 2011

• Question and Answer with Energy Secretary Ken Salazar, April 6, 2011

• Education Secretary Arne Duncan Twitter Town Hall, Oct. 1, 2011

In addition, departments have held numerous online forums hosted by lower-level officials, taking questions from citizens. The White House archives many of these events in the Open for Questions and Video sections of its website, and it promotes them ahead of time on its blog.

We find that most of the Cabinet secretaries, plus others below them, have been highly engaged in holding regular online meetings with citizens, as pledged by the president. This one's a Promise Kept.