What Does the FOIA Require of Federal Agencies?

What does the FOIA require of federal agencies? The FOIA, or the Freedom of Information Act is an act requiring United States government agencies to operate in a transparent manner. So, exactly what does acting in a transparent manner mean and how what does the FOIA require federal agencies to do?

The FOIA requires federal agencies to be transparent and make information available to the public. This means that individual citizens can request access to or copies of many different government documents. When a request is made, a reviewer will examine the citizen's request and the documents in order to determine whether the release of these documents is a threat to national security or other US interests, or whether the documents pose a threat.

If the reviewer finds that the documents do not pose a threat, the FOIA requires that Federal agencies:

• Release the documents in some form to the individual.
• Take these requests from private citizens and other individuals and answer them in a timely fashion.
• Have an appeals process to follow if the claims are denied.

Not All Information Is Released

FOIA requests are not blanket requirements that the agencies in question release documents, and the FOIA doesn't require of federal agencies that everything be released.  An examiner reviews each request and determines whether there are portions or sections of documents, or even entire documents, which exist that might compromise the safety of a federal agent, the process of an ongoing investigation, or the privacy of a citizen who was involved in the investigation, and the examiner will redact these individuals names or the entire documents as necessary before making the decision to proceed.

Federal Agencies to Which the FOIA Applies

The FOIA act applies to executive branch departments, as well as a number of judicial branches such as the FBI, CIA, and other security agencies like the US Department of Justice. 

Federal agencies which serve the president or congress exclusively are exempted from any FOIA disclosure requirements and so the FOIA doesn't require anything of these agencies. 

Who Can File an FOIA Request

Any private citizen, foreign national, organization or university can file a FOIA request.

Most of the agencies involved have begun declassifying documents which may be of interest or which have been heavily requested by FOIA. There are a great deal of FOIA requested documents already available online and in person at National Archives buildings.

Process of Making an FOIA Request

The process of filing a FOIA request is as simple as sending a written request to the agency that you wish to question about particular documents.  You will need to:

• Supply written proof that an individual is dead if you are requesting information about a private citizen (such as someone requesting Elvis Presley’s FBI files, or the like)
• Provide as much specific information as possible to help narrow down the search for the information for which you are looking

If your request is denied, you can appeal to a higher authority in order to have your documents released if you believe you have a compelling case.