Strengthen the Freedom of Information Act

A photo illustration of documents gathered during an AP investigation

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.

Write a letter to keep FOIA offices open

First Name * Last Name
Email Address *
Street Address * Zip Code * Enter a five digit US ZIP code

Edit this message so that it is unique to you: Dear Senator/Representative, As your constituent, I am deeply concerned about closures and reductions in force at Freedom of Information Act offices across the government. I am asking that you PLEASE SPEAK OUT and inform the administration: It is critical that FOIA offices remain fully staffed and open. Records released through FOIA have informed my decision-making as a voter on issues including health, public safety, immigration, and national security. These cuts will both compromise my ability to make informed decisions about the policy issues that are most important to me and impact your office’s ability to conduct oversight. Not only does your office rely on records released through FOIA and reported in the news to inform your investigations but FOIA offices often play a key role in responding to congressional requests for information. When FOIA offices close, government secrecy gets worse and your job gets harder. This will further erode trust in government at a pivotal time. We cannot let this happen. Now is the time to use your considerable influence to support and safeguard FOIA. Your efforts in the coming months to keep our government transparent will have major implications for our country’s trajectory and the public’s faith in its institutions. Thank you. URLs are not allowed in this message.

* Required. We will not share your information with third parties. Learn more

Something went wrong processing this request. Please try again later.

Opt in to email updates from Freedom of the Press Foundation

Something went wrong and your email updates subscription could not be processed. Please visit our signup page and try again.

Thanks for helping us protect FOIA and the right of the press and public to know what the government is up to.

Donate

Share this message on social media:
Join me in encouraging Congress to stop the administration’s attacks on FOIA and our right to access government documents: https://freedom.press/the-classifieds/foia/#protect-foia

Featured Items

How the “Most Transparent Administration in History” Undercut FOIA and Covered Up Torture
FOIA•Article
The nonpartisan organization Cause of Action has a new report out for Sunshine Week, "Grading the Government: How the White House Targets Document Requesters." The report includes an April 15, 2009 email Cause of Action obtained last year from the Justice Department written by then White House counsel Greg Craig. …

Published March 20, 2014 Jason Leopold
Government FOIA Officers Complain About House FOIA Reform Bill
FOIA•Article
The House last month, by an overwhelming majority, passed a bipartisan-sponsored Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reform bill that received strong support from more than two-dozen news organizations and public interest groups. But, as Federal News Radio reported this morning, government FOIA officers are now complaining that the legislation …

Published March 19, 2014 Jason Leopold
Government Opposes Preservation Order in FOIA Lawsuit for CIA’s “Panetta Review”
FOIA•Article
At the center of the controversy between the Senate Intelligence Committee and the CIA is a report known as the “Panetta review” that apparently matches up with the findings and conclusions of the Senate panel’s own report on the CIA’s detention and interrogation program.Last December, after Sen. Mark Udall …

Published March 18, 2014 Jason Leopold
Obama Administration Official Whitewashes Truth About FOIA
FOIA•Article
Last week, as she does every year around Sunshine Week, Melanie Pustay went to The Hill and testified before a congressional committee about how great government agencies haven been doing responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and providing requesters with responsive records. Pustay, the head of the …

Published March 17, 2014 Jason Leopold
The Best of the Government’s ‘We Cannot Confirm Nor Deny’ Claims
FOIA•Article
In a spectacular episode for history buffs and transparency nuts alike, Radiolab posted an episode yesterday that explores the Cold War roots of the Glomar “neither confirm nor deny” response to FOIA requests. Here are some of the most notable and bizarre Glomar responses that MuckRock users have …

Published Feb. 13, 2014 Shawn Musgrave Anais Vaillant
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 Chairman …

Published Feb. 10, 2014 Jason Leopold
NSA Refuses to Confirm or Deny Whether It Has Documents on Spy Program It Already Talked About
FOIA•Article
I’m getting a kick out of the letters the National Security Agency (NSA) has been sending me in response to my Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.A couple of weeks ago, the NSA refused to release 156 pages of draft talking points the agency created in the wake of …

Published Feb. 9, 2014 Jason Leopold
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 Feb. 4, 2014 Shawn Musgrave
NSA Sees “Grave Damage” to National Security If Draft Talking Points on Surveillance Released
Surveillance•Article
The National Security Agency appears to have spent a lot of time trying to agree on a set of talking points agency officials could use to respond to revelations that originated with Edward Snowden about the lawfulness of the agency’s classified surveillance programs.Indeed, last October, I filed a Freedom …

Published Jan. 29, 2014 Jason Leopold
DOJ: Feinstein’s Committee Controls Torture Report; Has Final Say Over Public Release
Secrecy•Article
A report completed more than a year ago by a Senate panel that investigated the CIA’s torture program can only be released by the committee, which maintains complete "control” over the highly classified document, the Justice Department said in a court filing late Friday. The Justice Department made that claim …

Published Jan. 25, 2014 Jason Leopold

Strengthen the Freedom of Information Act

Protect FOIA

Write a letter to keep FOIA offices open

Featured Items

Three new FPF FOIA suits target threats to transparency, press freedom

Tell Congress to protect FOIA offices

The U.S. government is hiding Öztürk records. Its rationale is insulting

How the “Most Transparent Administration in History” Undercut FOIA and Covered Up Torture

Government FOIA Officers Complain About House FOIA Reform Bill

Government Opposes Preservation Order in FOIA Lawsuit for CIA’s “Panetta Review”

Obama Administration Official Whitewashes Truth About FOIA

The Best of the Government’s ‘We Cannot Confirm Nor Deny’ Claims

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

NSA Refuses to Confirm or Deny Whether It Has Documents on Spy Program It Already Talked About

This Method is So Constitutional, the DEA Won’t Even Release Its Name

NSA Sees “Grave Damage” to National Security If Draft Talking Points on Surveillance Released

DOJ: Feinstein’s Committee Controls Torture Report; Has Final Say Over Public Release

Strengthen the Freedom of Information Act

Protect FOIA

Write a letter to keep FOIA offices open

Featured Items

Subscribe to the mailing list

Sign Up. Take Action.