But Moss ' mission to put provisions in place was more than political ; it was personal . grant to Jonathan Peters , J.D. , Ph.D. , supporter prof at the William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications at the University of Kansas , Moss requested information from a public charge about government employee fired over suspicions of disloyalty during his first term in Congress . " His request was denied , " Peters , who ’s also the Press Freedom Correspondent for theColumbia Journalism Review , articulate in an email . " A few year later , he chaired a house subcommittee on public information , and in that role , he have got hearings on governance openness . Moss also speak often about the topic at league and to journalist . "
But while diarist supported Moss ' drive to push for more government transparence , politicians were n’t so keen on the idea . The congressman faced confrontation from fellow democratPresident Lyndon B. Johnson , along with 27 federal department and agency . But in 1966 , the House vote 307 - 0 to pass Moss’Freedom of Information Act(FOIA ) bill , and Johnson signed the bill on Independence Day of that yr . In his command that day , Johnson wrote , " No one should be capable to pull curtains of secrecy around decision which can be divulge without injury to the public pursuit , " and he conclude with the words , " I signal this measure with a deep sense of pridefulness that the United States is an open society " [ source : The American Presidency Project ] .
But despite the victory for Moss and FOIA supporters , there would still be a long road forward for those advocating for absolute government transparentness , and in many mode , the battle is still playing out today .
What Is the Freedom of Information Act?
When the Freedom of Information Act earlier was enacted in 1966 , it specify that everyfederal executive branchagency would be required to make its records uncommitted to the public . Built into the bill were nine exemption that could protect an agency from releasing documents in specific circumstances . The act also created an official process for requesters to appeal for access code if denied , and put the burden on agencies to rise their right field to conceal information [ source : Department of Justice ] .
" The FOIA was signed into police force in 1966 , and it ' base a insurance policy of openness toward information within the ascendance of the executive arm , and a presumption that such records should be accessible to the American public , ' consort to the legislative act itself , " Peters says . " Since then , the FOIA has been used by journalists , historian , attorney , citizens — all kind of people — to supervise government activities . It ’s been a useful tool to enable and invest mass to represent accountability roles in our republic . “
The original version of the enactment had the potential to change the world ’s relationship to previously protected documents , but it was n’t until theWatergate scandalof 1974 that significant change were introduce that made it much more difficult for agencies to keep arcanum .
New rule mean strict meter frames and sanctions around what variety of information could and could n’t be withheld , and journalists and public interest radical were given fiscal breaks for accessing information thanks to additional language added in by the House and Senate . While President Gerald Ford veto the amendments , the House and Senate overrode his determination , and the changes went into effect [ source : Electronic Frontier Foundation ] .
Those are n’t the only change that the FOIA has face since being enacted . The jurisprudence has been amend several time throughout the decades since Ford ’s presidency .
Notable Changes to the FOIA Through the Decades
The next major modification to the Freedom of Information Act come at the helping hand of President Ronald Reagan . In 1982 , Reagan created rules that made it easier for agencies to withhold information from suppliant . If agencies could demonstrate the request papers contained potentially sensible governing information , they could keep it protected . During Bill Clinton ’s presidency , however , many of these stricter regulations around classified information were lift [ origin : Electronic Frontier Foundation ] .
While Clinton was responsible for for many landmark events in the history of the FOIA , including the release and archiving of previously class Cold War - era documents , one of his most notable alteration to the law of nature came in 1996 . That ’s when the chairperson signed theElectronic Freedom of Information Act Amendmentsinto law , put pressure on government activity agencies to keep up with the changing times and make electronic copies of important papers for digital dispersion [ origin : Electronic Frontier Foundation ] .
But while Bush made some documents tougher to access , he also make believability and dominance to a larger puddle of potential FOIA requesters . TheOPEN Government Act of 2007added alternative journalists , free lance and blogger as legitimate members of the press , ply them more low-priced access to regime disc . The 2007 amendments also introduced theOffice of Government Information Services , which start operating in theNational Archives and Records Administrationin 2009 . " It review means policies and FOIA conformation , recommends policy changes to congress and the president , and offers free mediation services to solve disputes between requesters and delegacy , as an alternative to judicial proceeding — which can be pricey , " Peters says .
Throughout the Obama administration , the turn continued to develop . In 2009 , President Obama issue a memoranda on his first day in office , promising to reform crucial parts of the law to let for unprecedented governmental transparency [ reservoir : Obama White House ] . " Another key change is that [ in 2016 ] President Obama signed theFOIA Improvement Act , which has made it easier to access record book , " Peters say .
Some of the main 2016 changes reinstate premature criterion . " The law of nature requires agency to make any disclosable records available to the world via electronic formatting , " Peters says . " This speeds up production [ and ] reduces cost . " The law also forces agencies to permanently release text file to the world once they ’re requested at least three time , and it take a leak it backbreaking for agencies to traverse requests by simply say " no . "
" The police contains exemptions , of course , but now , or else of phonograph recording being recoup plainly because they encounter an exemption , office are allowed to evoke exemptions only if they reasonably believe disclosure will harm an interest protect by the exemption , " Peters says .
How Do You File a FOIA Request?
Any U.S. citizen or foreign national can make a Freedom of Information Act request . Corporationsor organizations likenews outletsand public involvement group can make requests , too . Journalists and other members of the media do n’t have different rights to data than anyone else , but they can get reduce rates on fees and faster processing in some situations .
The price of obtaining platter varies , but way can bill fees that are hold " reasonable " and direct related to finding and copying the records being requested . Fees are broadly charged between $ 11 and $ 28 per hour , but extra fees can apply for computer usance ; these can be costly , even as high as $ 270 per hour [ source : RCFP ] .
Anyonerequesting FOIA documentsmust make an appeal for those document directly to the agency holding the documents , and to its FOIA power . Every public office must have someone dedicated to plow requests , and it also must lean on its website where requests should be post . For instance , if you need to file a FOIA petition with the Centers for Disease Control , which has multiple agencies within it , you ’d claver its mainFOIA pageand follow the instructions there . asking must be submit in writing , describing the documents required . Each office may have its own specific protocol , but most take submission via electronic mail , web phase or facsimile machine [ informant : FOIA.gov ] .
How long the process take , of course , depends . agency will ordinarily call requests on a first - add up - first - do basis , so the reply metre will vary depending on how many requests are in the queue , and how complicated they are . If someone is appear for a few pages of a specific written document , that request may be addressed more quickly than someone endeavor to track down hundreds of pages come from a variety of sources [ source : FOIA.gov ] .
But even after Obama ’s change in 2016 , which were intended to make the request process take less time and go more smoothly , many journalists say they still have problems with farseeing delays and denied requests . Several author and reporters at ProPublica outlined exercise of their frustrationsin a pieceabout the unsuccessful person of the act , including senior reporter Charles Orstein . His appeal to the Department of Defense for a story about drug troupe give Dr. took three - and - a - half years , only to be denied .
Limitations of the FOIA
There is a pile of governmental entropy usable to the public thanks to the FOIA , includingautopsyreports , campus criminal offence information , divorcement records and county pokey rosters , but even after all the recent changes , the law still has limitations . First , the FOIA gives the world the right toaskfor Union agency record ; it doesn’tguaranteethe public the absolute right wing to have them . citizenry are entitle to make a request and pick up a response , but there ’s nothing in the law that says the agency owes them those record .
There also are a few specific thing not accessible through the act :
Landmark Court Rulings
Several celebrated court event have involved the Freedom of Information Act . Peters name a 1976 type — Phillippi v. the Central Intelligence Agency — as one of his favorites . In a Columbia Journalism Reviewarticlein 2016 , Peters wrote how the case is the base for an government agency ’s right to " neither reassert nor abnegate the cosmos or nonentity " of book [ source : Peters ] . The origin of the case stem from the 1968 sinking feeling of a Soviet submarine off the coast of Hawaii . The CIA partner with Howard Hughes to build a ship call the Glomar Explorer to help find and salvage the submarine for internal intelligence reasons .
When a Rolling Stone newsman register a FOIA petition to get documents related to this mystic task , the CIA refused to confirm or deny that any such documents existed because comment either fashion could compromisenational surety . The Rolling Stone journalist sued , but the federal appeals court side with the CIA . Now when government agency invoke the right wing to " neither substantiate nor deny " if requested records exist , it ’s known as a " Glomar reaction " [ rootage : Peters ] .
Another FOIA case that ’s oft cited is theDepartment of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press . The 1989 case is important because it ’s responsible for the current necessity to equilibrate public interest group against secrecy invasion . If the track record that a reporter is request do n’t unveil information about governmental activities or operation , then their release is n’t considered all-important for public interest . This is whycriminal records , or " tap sheets " can be withheld under FOIA exemption 7(c ): since the information they hold back does n’t reveal anything about how the government operates , agencies are n’t obligated to release them [ generator : RCFP ] .
In 2016 , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the FOIA can hold to agency records even when they ’re maintain in a personal e-mail account . The case , love asCompetitive Enterprise Institute v. Office of Science and Technology Policy , involved a libertarian protagonism grouping named Competitive Enterprise Institute ( CEI ) that sued the Office of Science and Technology Policy ( OSTP ) for denying a public records request . The original petition was for work - relate email that were being stored in the means director ’s nongovernmental email account [ source : RCFP ] .
" Cases like this recount us that we ’re heading towards a more subject politics , thanks to our judges , " says Nayeli Maxson , attorney and executive director of a San Francisco Bay Area - based community development organization , in an electronic mail . " The case was a big profits for government activity transparency advocates and diary keeper covering government entities . Before this federal appellate court ruling , government employees could send emails from a non - governmental email story and get around public records request like FOIA . The jurist ’s opinion in this case made clear that the non - governmental email maneuver is discrepant with the function of FOIA . "
It was a FOIA request by the nonprofitCitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washingtonthat helped expose Hillary Clinton ’s exclusive economic consumption of a private email server while Secretary of State . In December 2014 , Clinton provided the State Department with the emails she sent and received and they ’re nowavailable to the public .
The Future of the FOIA
If history is any index number , the FOIA will carry on to develop . Maxson take note the CEI v. OSTP case in exceptional could be indicative of FOIA ’s ongoing organic evolution . " Simple ego - report of important information will not suffice , " she pronounce . " As with other region of government activity in the Trump geological era , the future of FOIA will likely require that we look to the courts to uphold a higher standard of American ethics . "
As the U.S. travel forward under a unexampled administration , many are wondering how else the FOIA will change over the next four class and beyond .
Peters accost the question of whether President Donald Trump could change the FOIA in a piecehe wrotein October 2016 for Columbia Journalism Review , writing " He alone could n’t amend the jurisprudence , but he could affect its implementation . " Peters explain that Trump has the power to influence how statute and amendments are employ , and his pick forattorney general(which we now know is Jeff Sessions ) may allow him to influence the government’slegalarguments regarding the FOIA [ generator : Peters ] .
But in his email Peters ' suppose his biggest vexation about the future of FOIA are regarding the media ’s role in uncovering of import information . " I wrote a piece about the boastful modern threat to U.S. military press freedom , " he says , referencinghis articleabout government activity secrecy and a free press published in other 2016 . " I say it was 'government attempt to shield information and issue from public view ' — that ’s my panoptic concern for the FOIA . "
