Biden’s legacy: Leaving FOIA in shambles
AP Illustration
The Freedom of Information Act gives the public a right to access government records.
The Freedom of Information Act is supposed to shed light on government activity by giving journalists and the public access to government records. But the law is in shambles. From endless delays in response time and unjustified refusals to ridiculously overbroad redactions, FOIA is plagued with problems.
We must fight back against the government’s refusal to comply with FOIA and urge Congress to reform the law and end backlogs of requests, reduce the number of exemptions, and overturn damaging court decisions.
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Did ICE quietly rescind illegal guidance curtailing congressional visits?
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Tips for requesting body-worn camera footage from the L.A. protests
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FPF FOIA project targets press abuses
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FPF takes State Department to court over Öztürk secrecy
Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeks documents on targeting of journalist
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Snowden surveillance disclosures should be revisited as DOGE builds its “master database”
Plus: Justice Department lets former White House officials accused of stealing presidential records keep them.
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FOIA reporting makes headlines. Wired and 404 Media make the articles free.
Plus: The Food and Drug Administration is still hiding deadly E. coli outbreak information
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Trump administration abuses secrecy rules to manipulate news narrative
Podcast appearance highlights National Archives crisis and how Trump’s efforts to rewrite history will make it harder for policymakers to be effective
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Do you trust Marco Rubio to administer the Electoral College?
Plus: Major hack of FOIA software reveals problems of government’s overreliance on private companies
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Politicizing declassification has dire consequences
It will corrupt historical accounts of this administration — and is a recipe for disaster.
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Recent leaks reinforce why journalist-source confidentiality needs protecting
Virtually every time the government has cracked down on leaks claiming some kind of threat to the homeland, the real threat has been to its own reputation.
