The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
The Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552(m), requires the full or partial disclosure of information that is controlled by the U.S. Government upon public request. The legislation governs the rules regarding the public’s access to public records of the U.S. government and was created to make the activities of U.S. government agencies more transparent to the public.
Records discoverable under FOIA
A FOIA request can encompass any existing agency record that is not protected by the nine exemptions laid out in the statute (5 U.S.C. § 552 (a)(3), (a)(4)(B), (b), (c)). Records can be requested in physical or electronic form. Basic examples of records include photographs, e-mails, reports, and videos. Exemptions are covered further in Section 5.
FOIA does not cover records that don’t already exist. Agencies are not obligated to create new records, conduct research, or analyze data in order to meet a request. As a result, be fairly certain that the record you are requesting exists or might exist before making a FOIA request.
Agencies covered under FOIA
FOIA applies only to federal agencies under the Executive Branch. Records held by Congress, all levels of the courts, and state or local governments are not covered under FOIA (Federal court records can be accessed at www.pacer.gov and Congressional Records can be accessed here).
State and local governments often have public records laws of their own. The public can request access to those documents based on local laws. (Ex. CPA filings).
Below is a list of often targeted programs and agencies for FOIA records requests related to various agency functions:
- CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)
- CBP (Customs and Border Patrol)
- DHS (Department of Homeland Security)
- DOJ (Department of Justice)
- FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation)
- FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), Patriot Act
- ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
- NSA (National Security Agency)
- ODNI (Office of the Director of National Intelligence)
- Information pertaining George Floyd protests, religion, travel bans, ALPR, FR, reproductive/gender-affirming care
Agency response times
As written in the statute, agencies must respond to FOIA requests within twenty working days excluding weekends and holidays. This timeline only starts upon the agency’s receipt of the request (5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(A)(i)).
Agencies have the ability, however, to extend the time it takes to process the request by ten days. Agencies may also stop the twenty-day clock from running to respond to a FOIA request. In both of these scenarios, agencies must notify the requester of this extended timeline and have a valid reason for doing so. This topic will be explored further in Section 4. Agency Responses.
In special circumstances, requests may be processed on an expedited basis. However, these requests must meet stringent requirements and one must specifically petition the agency for expedited handling of a request. Expedited requests will be further explained in Section 3.2.