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Strengthen the Freedom of Information Act

A photo illustration of documents gathered during an AP investigation

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.

Protect FOIA

Help us tell Congress that Trump’s decimation of FOIA offices across the federal government is unacceptable. Americans deserve access to the records of the government they fund.

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Featured Items

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    FOIA Lawsuit No. 5: My Attempt to Access the Secret Report Claiming Snowden’s Leaks Could Damage National Security

    FOIA•Article

    Last month, Shane Harris published a report in Foreign Policy revealing that that the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) prepared a report and concluded Edward Snowden’s leaks and the news reports on the top-secret documents he disclosed could “gravely impact” national security.   The Foreign Policy report quoted House Intelligence Committee …

    Published Jason Leopold
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    This Method is So Constitutional, the DEA Won't Even Release Its Name

    Surveillance•Article

    Training documents released to MuckRock user C.J. Ciaramella by the Drug Enforcement Administration provide unprecedented details on the tactic known as “parallel construction,” by which agents reverse engineer evidence to hide surveillance programs from defense teams, prosecutors and a public wary of domestic intelligence practices. But the DEA redacted all …

    Published Shawn Musgrave
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    EXCLUSIVE: Clapper Memo Reveals Rationale Behind NSA Review Group Secrecy

    Secrecy•Article

    <!--//--><![CDATA[// ><!-- DV.load("//www.documentcloud.org/documents/808719-clapper-memo-exempting-nsa-review-group-from-faca.js", { width: 600, height: 600, sidebar: false, text: false, pdf: false, page: 2, container: "#DV-viewer-808719-clapper-memo-exempting-nsa-review-group-from-faca" }); //--><!]]> When President Obama announced last August that he would take steps to try and win back public confidence in the wake of a series of troubling disclosures by The Guardian …

    Published Jason Leopold
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    NSA Claims No Audio, Transcripts or Notes From Official's Interview With Gellman, But Assertion Appears to Be Untrue

    FOIA•Article

    <!--//--><![CDATA[// ><!-- DV.load("//www.documentcloud.org/documents/797986-nsa-response-to-leopold-foia-for-interview-audio.js", { width: 600, height: 600, sidebar: false, text: false, pdf: false, container: "#DV-viewer-797986-nsa-response-to-leopold-foia-for-interview-audio" }); //--><!]]> Last month, Barton Gellman published an explosive story in the Washington Post about the NSA's widespread privacy violations, based on documents he obtained from whistleblower Edward Snowden.  Gellman also wrote a …

    Published Jason Leopold

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