Freedom of Information Act creates more open government
Why is the federal Freedom of Information Act important?
It allows people to request information — printed and electronic documents and communications, including cell phone text messages and e-mails — from the United States government. Anyone, including citizens and foreign nationals, as well as interest groups and associations, can file a FOIA request. Each state also has its own open records laws.
How long has the federal law been around?
The first FOIA was passed in 1966. It was strengthened in 1974, after Watergate, and again in 1996 to incorporate Internet record keeping and communications inside government. At the beginning of his term, President Barack Obama issued directives ordering a more open government and told Attorney General Eric Holder to issue new guidelines establishing a “presumption in favor of disclosure.”
Does it cost anything to file a FOIA request?
It doesn’t cost anything to file, but the government can charge for such expenses as processing and copying, although the fees can be waived. Journalists, for example, have long counted on fee waivers if they can show the information they are requesting is in the public’s interest. Many agencies will allow journalists to visit their offices and inspect documents in person to avoid delays and copying fees.
How efficient is the FOIA request process?
A review of 25 federal agencies by the Sunshine in Government Initiative shows about one-third of FOIA requests remained backlogged in 2008, despite a decrease in filings. Agencies continue to miss the 20-working day response deadline in a majority of cases and agencies rejected the highest percentage of requests since performance reporting began.
Agency funds allocated for FOIA have risen more than 40 percent in the last decade, but the number of FOIA staffers declined 34 percent and the number of requests processed annually decreased 31 percent, according to the Sunshine in Government Initiative, a coalition of media groups that promotes open government policies.
Developments
At the White House:
President Barack Obama has begun releasing White House visitor records that are 90 to 120 days old on a monthly basis. The Bush administration argued that the records were exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. The Obama policy applies to records created after Sept. 15, 2009. The White House also provides online access to staff financial reports and salaries. The White House started publishing information about federal spending and research at www.data.gov. In December, the White House Office of Management and Budget directed government agencies to create “open government” Web sites with opportunities for public input. According to ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization, 27 of 64 independent agencies still didn’t have open government pages two weeks after the Feb. 6 deadline. In Congress:
The Senate in May changed the way it publishes member voting records online. It now posts the data to its Web site in a machine-readable, comparative format at www.senate.gov
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced in June that the House would begin publishing records of office expenditures online at www.disbursements.house.gov. Members’ expenses were previously released only in print volumes.
Without FOIA …
A sampling of major news and interesting tidbits that became public because of Freedom of Information Act requests:
School lunches: A company selling beef to the USDA’s National School Lunch Program might have on several occasions supplied meat that tested positive for salmonella, E. coli or other dangerous pathogens, according to a USA Today story published in December 2009. USA Today reporters used FOIA requests to obtain microbial tests results for beef bought by the program.
Military mentors: Marine Lt. Gen. Buck Bedard worked as a corporate director or consultant for seven defense contractors while he was paid to advise the Pentagon’s Joint Forces Command on war tactics and commander mentoring. USA Today requested Bedard’s schedules and e-mails for information for a December 2009 story.
Federal budget: More than $270 million in stimulus grants awarded by the Federal Aviation Administration went to projects deemed low-priority by the agency, according to an October 2009 Wall Street Journal article that cited data from Subsidyscope, an initiative of the nonprofit Pew Charitable Trusts. Subsidyscope used FOIA requests to create a database of projects awarded grants under the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program from fiscal 2005 through most of fiscal 2009.
Dangerous drugs: Pressured to speed up the flow of lifesaving medicines, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved seven drugs that later proved unsafe, according to a 2000 expose by the Los Angeles Times. The story, which relied partly on documents obtained through FOIA, won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism.
CIA fumble: Almost 40 years after the Bay of Pigs invasion failed to oust Cuban leader Fidel Castro, documents obtained through a FOIA request blamed the CIA, not President John Kennedy. This came to light in a 150-page CIA report released in 1998 in compliance with a request by the National Security Archive, a Washington-based nonprofit.
Ol’ Blue Eyes: Frank Sinatra was a popular subject of FOIA requests after his death in 1998. FBI files on the singer show he gave a doctor $40,000 to deem him “unacceptable for medical reasons” for service in the military during World War II. The files also show Sinatra associated with hookers and gangsters.
FOIA filing
