FOIA Advisor

FOIA News: Complaints persist about FOIA processing

FOIA News (2015-2023)Allan BlutsteinComment

Feds stiff-arm taxpayers’ requests for information

By Jeff Mordock, Wash. Times, Jan. 2, 2018

The federal Freedom of Information Act was supposed to give the public relatively quick and easy access to the very government documents their taxes paid for — but the system is increasingly broken, with some agencies still working on requests filed some 20 years ago.

At least five federal agencies have unfulfilled FOIA inquiries spanning more than a decade, according to a Washington Times review of two dozen of the largest agencies.

Despite recent initiatives to prevent FOIA requests from piling up, watchdogs who rely on it to hold the government accountable say nothing has changed.

Read more here.