When this country was founded, the First Amendment gave the citizens the right to know. As part of the 1946 Administrative Procedure Act "Federal agencies had the right to authorize withholding information from the public. Matters of official note should be made available to the public, but added that an agency could limit entry to its papers for good cause found or in the public interest" (Sherick; pg 2). It was not until the Freedom of Information act of 1966 that the government started to open for the American people. Or did it? Though there were exceptions to the act, there were also no provisions made to enforce it. It was not until 1974 that the needed amendments were added.
It took Congress eleven years of debate to pass this act. In the 1980's Congress debated again, but this time over weakening the act. At the time the Reagan Administration argued that it cost the tax payers too much money. They estimated " that it costs somewhere between fifty and sixty million dollars a year to administer" (Lacy; pg 60). Of course history has shown that this Administration was never known for its frugality. In a 1986 report to the American Library Association, the Commission on Freedom and Equality of Access to Information noted that the Reagan Administration had not cause to complain about such an amount. At the time this cost was less than the Pentagon spends each year on marching bands (pg 60).
EXEMPTIONS
The original exemptions placed in the Freedom of Information act were as follows....
1. Matters that are specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or for foreign policy and are in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive order.
2. Matters that are related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency.
3. Matters that are specifically exempted from disclosure by statute.
4. Matters that are trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and priviledged or confidential.
5. Matters that are an inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with that agency.
6. Matters that deal with personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
7. Matters that are investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such records would (A) interfere with enforcements proceedings, (B) deprive a person the right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication (C) constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy (D) disclose the identity of a confidential source and, in the case of a record compiled by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal investigation; or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation, confidential information furnished only by the confidential source, (E) disclose investigative techniques and procedures, or (F) endanger the life or physical safety of law enforcement personnel.
8. Matters contained in or relating to examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of a agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions.
9. Matters involving geological and geophysical information and data, including maps, concerning wells.
Source from Sherrick How to Use the Freedom of Information Act.
CONTROVERSIES
One provision of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is that requests for records must be delivered within ten days. Many agencies ignore this provision. Some take several months to a year to deliver the material. Courts are also slow in deciding FOIA cases. This dissuades potential advocates of the Act from bringing potential violations to justice. The problem of the advancing technology has now also entered the ring of controversy. "The advent of electronic dissemination has generated serious serious conflicts about how to maintain and strengthen public access to governmental information and balance the roles of individual federal agencies, government wide dissemination mechanisms, and the private sector" (Schmidt: pg 90). Congress needs to state on how the FOIA will be used in today's electronic environment.The library community has already been one of the advocates for having federal information produced more in electronic formats. Others groups have also caught onto this trend. But this will create more problems for the future. Many of the Acts used for governing this area were passed before technology was as widespread as it is today. So very few of these Acts have the provisions to handle the problems that will arise.
RECORDS THAT CAN BE REQUESTED
Citizen's today can request several types of records from agencies. These include
1. Descriptions of agency organization and office addresses;
2. Statements of the general course and method of agency operation;
3. Rules of procedure and descriptions of forms;
4. Substantive rules of general applicability and general policy statements;
5. Final opinions made in the adjudication of cases; and
6. Administrative staff manuals that affect the public.
All this information must be published in the Fedearal Register. Though other information is also available through FOIA , there is not an actual definition of it. The term "record" is loosely used to describe what is available, because the FOIA does not authorize the release of any information that is not considered a "record."
CONCLUSION
As of today the Freedom of Information Act still stands. Citizens can still request information, and these requests must be delivered, though there is overlap with the Privacy Act. A guide for citizen's using FOIA produced by the Committee on Government Operations states that a person should cite both laws when seeking documents from the Federal Government (pg 5). To actually request the records a form must be sent to directly to the appropriate agency. A short and simple letter appears to be the best bet. The letter must contain three parts. It should state that the request is being made under the Freedom of Information Act, the records must be noted as specifically as possible, and the name and address of the requests must be shown. Though this request might not be delivered very quickly, it must be done. The FOIA was a needed addition to our country's laws. The people have a right to know the basic facts of an organization, it is our tax dollars that support there agencies. One can only hope the FOIA will not be revoked, or rendered obsolete with the changing formats of information today.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Commission on Freedom and Equality Access to Information. Freedom and Equalty of Access to Information. Chicago: American Library Association, 1986.
Committee on Government Operations. A Citizen's Guide on Using the Freedom of
Information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974 to Request Government Records.
Washington: GPO, 1993.
Carome, Patrick J. and Thomas M. Susman. "American Bar Association Symposium on FOIA 25th Anniversary" Government Information Quarterly 9.3 (1992): 223-265.
Sherrick, L.G. How to Use the Freedom of Information Act. New York: Arco, 1978.
Schmidt, James D. "Rights for Users of Information Conflicts and Balances among Privacy, Professional Ethics, Law, National Security" Special Reports 9.4 (1990): 83-100.
Prepared by Karen Saunders 4/95. Updated 12/97