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NEW: The Freedom of Information Act has been a important tool for uncovering government records since 1966, but increasing delays have made it less effective. Here are three ways to strengthen FOIA: americanoversight.org/three-ways-to-…
The year 2017 set the record for the most requests ever submitted — more than 800,000 — evidence of both a growing population and increasing concern about our democracy: americanoversight.org/three-ways-to-…
Agencies often engage in delaying tactics, such as claiming that easily searchable records haven't been "reasonably described." On top of that, limited and inadequate resources are provided for processing requests. americanoversight.org/three-ways-to-…
One way to strengthen FOIA is to to make it clear that a record is “reasonably described” if an agency employee can understand what record is being sought and can locate it.
Another way is to limit the time that an agency is allowed to withhold documents for inter-agency "consultation," and to place actual penalties on agencies that fail to meet their FOIA obligations.
Agencies should also develop better information systems to help with search and processing functions, as well as mandating that agencies use an appropriate portion of their budget for FOIA: americanoversight.org/three-ways-to-…
It's up to Congress to force agencies to improve their responsiveness. See the letter we sent to Rep. Cummings and Sens. Grassley, Leahy, and Cornyn regarding needed changes to FOIA: documentcloud.org/documents/5770…
