Open Access to U.S. Government Records: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

Crawl activity 2007-present

Summary from CRS document:
"The U.S. Constitution makes no specific allowance for any one of the three branches of the federal government to have access to information held by the others. No provision in the U.S. Constitution expressly establishes a procedure for public access to government information.
Congress has legislated various public access laws. Among these laws are two records access statutes,
• the Freedom of Information Act (FOI Act or FOIA; 5 U.S.C. § 552), and
• the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. § 552a),
and two meetings access statutes,
• the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA; 5 U.S.C. App.), and
• the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. § 552b).
The American separation of powers model of government may inherently prompt interbranch conflicts over the accessibility of information. These conflicts are neither unexpected nor necessarily destructive. Although there is considerable interbranch cooperation in the sharing of information and records, such conflicts over access may continue on occasion.
This report offers an overview of the four information access laws noted above, and provides citations to additional resources related to these tools."

"This Guide is intended to serve as a general introduction to the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act.14 It offers neither a comprehensive explanation of the details of these acts nor an analysis of case law. The Guide will enable those who are unfamiliar with the laws to understand the process and to make a request.
In addition, the complete text of each law is included in an appendix."

The CIA has established this site to provide the public with an overview of access to CIA information, including electronic access to previously released documents. Because of CIA's need to comply with the national security laws of the United States, some documents or parts of documents cannot be released to the public. In particular, the CIA, like other U.S. intelligence agencies, has the responsibility to protect intelligence sources and methods from disclosure.

"The United States Department of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act is an overview discussion of the FOIA's procedural requirements, exemptions, and litigation considerations. It is prepared by the staff of the Office of Information Policy (OIP) and is updated and revised every two years. The 2009 edition went to press in June 2009. "