Freedom of Information

THE FREEDOM of Information Act (FOIA) is officially Section 552, Title 5, of the U.S. Code. It has been amended a few times through its history, but from the onset it has been the authority for any person in the United States to ask any government agency for information about virtually anything. If the government agency has the material, it must provide it to the requester at reasonable expense, either electronically or in hard copy. By 2002, requests numbered 2.4 million, of which 1.4 million were to the Veterans Administration alone.

[Page 175]On July 4, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the FOIA into law. Johnson had reservations and was within a day of letting it die by pocket veto, but he had to sign to reduce the credibility gap generated by the war in Vietnam. He sought no publicity, so only a few journalists, lawyers, and legislators were at his Texas ranch to witness the event. From those hesitant beginnings, the Freedom of Information Act became the model for the sunshine laws now in effect in all 50 states and common in many other countries.

The original FOIA amended the Administrative Procedures Act of 1946, the law pertaining to public notice and comment on proposed rules and regulations. The legislation was so negligently written that its first 25 years generated over 3,000 lawsuits trying to make it compatible with privacy and copyright laws. Two dozen cases reached the Supreme Court by 1998. FOIA was a product of the legislative-executive conflict in 1955–58 during the Dwight Eisenhower administration. After Eisenhower fired alleged communists, a subcommittee of the House under John Moss (D-CA) asked for names and justifications. When the administration refused to provide the information, Democrats began what proved to be a 10-year fight to get inside the executive branch's cloak of secrecy. Hearings revealed that sometimes claims of national security were nothing more than efforts to conceal administration bungling. The press reported the disclosures, citing the right of the public to know. Still, three presidents, Eisenhower, John Kennedy, and Johnson, dragged their feet on FOI until 1966.

The FOIA initially required a response within 10 days, later extended to 20. That was the standard. In reality, replies could take months. Agencies rejected inquiries by citing the vagueness of a request or unavailability of the information. The requester had no recourse but to accept the decision. The act exempted documents pertaining to national security, personnel, trade secrets, privacy, and other information. In 1972, Moss held new hearings and not surprisingly found that enforcement of the act had been less than vigorous. In 1974, after Watergate, over Gerald Ford's veto, a stronger law came into being with stronger appeals process, tighter procedures, and set fees. Also, the law provided that a judge could overturn an agency's decision. Modifications occurred in 1986 and 1996.

The FOIA was unpopular with the bureaucracy because it was time-consuming and subject to abuse through frivolous requests. It also forced them to reveal things they did not really want journalists and other inquirers to know.

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