- This article is about the U.S. law. For freedom of information in other countries, see freedom of information legislation.
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in the United States. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 4, 1966, and went into effect the following year. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...
Over sixty-one countries around the world have implemented some form of freedom of information legislation, which sets rules on governmental secrecy, the oldest being Swedens Freedom of the Press Act of 1766. ...
The law of the United States was originally largely derived from the common law of the system of English law, which was in force at the time of the Revolutionary War. ...
Over sixty-one countries around the world have implemented some form of freedom of information legislation, which sets rules on governmental secrecy, the oldest being Swedens Freedom of the Press Act of 1766. ...
In the United States, there are a number of individual pieces of freedom of information legislation, as well as a number of other sunshine laws intended to increase the openness and transparency of government. ...
Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States (1963–1969). ...
For the United States holiday, the Fourth of July, see Independence Day (United States). ...
1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ...
Background With the perennial stress on both constitutional and inherent rights of American citizens and the added assertion of government subservience to the individual, some thought it was necessary for government information to be available to the public.
However, the sensitivity of some government information and private interests clash with this view. Therefore, Congress attempted to enact a Freedom of Information Act in 1966 that would effectively deal with requests for government records, consistent with the belief that the people have the “right to know” about them. The Privacy Act of 1974 additionally covered government documents charting individuals.
However, it is in the exemptions to solicitation of information under these acts that problems and discrepancies arise. The nine exemptions to the FOIA and the ten exemptions to the Privacy Act address issues of sensitivity and personal rights. Many citizens, over the course of the years, have felt cheated by these exemptions. They contend that persistent government action on many levels is geared toward exploiting these exception-clauses of the acts to withhold information which, in reality, does not uphold a national or constitutional right but personal or political biases.
The forms of cases against the government were many, and still continue. The major defendants in these cases have been the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Council (NSC), but the President has often been involved. The scopes of the acts are large, however, and encompass even ancillary roles in murder cases. // At present, the FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes and is second to only the United States Marshal Service in terms of law enforcement jurisdiction (although the USMS by practice relegates itself to judicial duties, making the FBI the de-facto lead...
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Government. ...
The National Security Council (NSC) of the United States is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his senior national security advisors and cabinet officials. ...
The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ...
The Freedom of Information Act (and corollary legislation) presents the United States with what some see as a "slippery slope" of free information. How much information is the government required to reveal? Is there a point at which boundaries of public availability should not be crossed? Who determines and enforces those boundaries to the benefit or detriment of those seeking and withholding information? In debate or rhetoric, the slippery slope is an argument for the likelihood of one event given another. ...
Scope The act explicitly applies only to federal government agencies. These agencies are under several mandates to comply with public solicitation of information. Along with making public and accessible all bureaucratic and technical procedures for applying for documents from that agency, agencies are also subject to penalties for hindering the process of a petition for information. If “agency personnel acted arbitrarily or capriciously with respect to the withholding, [a] Special Counsel shall promptly initiate a proceeding to determine whether disciplinary action is warranted against the officer or employee who was primarily responsible for the withholding.” [III - Section 552 – (a)4(F)] In this way, there is recourse for one seeking information to go to a Federal court if suspicion of illegal tampering or delayed sending of records exists. However, there are nine exemptions, ranging from a withholding “specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy” and “trade secrets” to “clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” [III - Section 552 – (b) 1, 4 and 6] Thus, in all cases, the President has unlimited power in declaring something off-limits or necessarily classified in the concern of national safety. This loophole has presented numerous problems for individuals seeking information under the FOIA.
The Privacy Act The Privacy Act of 1974 is, summarily, a similar act regulating government control of documents which concern a citizen. It gives one “(1) the right to see records about [one]self, subject to the Privacy Act's exemptions, (2) the right to amend that record if it is inaccurate, irrelevant, untimely, or incomplete, and (3) the right to sue the government for violations of the statute including permitting others to see [one’s] records unless specifically permitted by the Act.” [V] In conjunction with the FOIA, the PA is used to further the rights of an individual gaining access to information held by the government. The Justice Department's Office of Information and Privacy and federal district courts (I – pg. 27) are the two channels of appeal available to seekers of information.
Major cases A major issue in released documentation is government redaction of certain passages deemed applicable to the Exemption section of the FOIA. FBI officers in charge of responding to FOIA requests "so heavily redacted the released records as to preclude needed research." (I - pgs. 21-22)
J. Edgar Hoover This trend of unwillingness to release records was especially evident in the process of making public the FBI files on J. Edgar Hoover. Of the 164 files and about eighteen thousand pages collected by the FBI, 2/3 were withheld from Athan G. Theoharis and plaintiff, most notably one entire folder entitled the 'White House Security Survey.' Despite finding out that the Truman Library had an accessible file which documented all the reports of this folder, the FBI and Office of Information and Privacy put forth "stony resistance" to the FOIA appeal process. (I – pg. 27) Some argue that it was not even this sixteen year series of three appeals to the Justice Department which gained a further opening of the files, but rather the case of U.S. Department of Justice v. Landano which spurred on a break in stolid FBI opposition. Hoover in 1961 John Edgar Hoover (January 23, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was the founder of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its present form and its director from May 10, 1923, until his death in 1972. ...
Murder trial A murder trial decided in the year of 1993, U.S. Department of Justice v. Landano, involved what was alleged to be a felony murder committed during a group burglary by defendant Landano. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote the unanimous opinion. "In an effort to support his claim in subsequent state court proceedings that the prosecution violated Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, by withholding material exculpatory evidence, he filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for information it had compiled in connection with the murder investigation." [IV] In defense, the FBI put forth a claim that the redacted sections of the documents requested were withheld in accordance with FOIA regulations protecting the identity of informants who gave information regarding case details. However, O'Connor ruled that those who supplied information had no need to remain anonymous in the court setting. "To the extent that the Government's proof may compromise legitimate interests, the Government still can attempt to meet its burden with in camera affidavits." The court thus remanded the case to the Circuit Courts and rejected the FBI's claim of confidentiality as being a valid reason to withhold information. Sandra Day OConnor (born March 26, 1930) is a former American jurist and politician who served as the first female Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. ...
// At present, the FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes and is second to only the United States Marshal Service in terms of law enforcement jurisdiction (although the USMS by practice relegates itself to judicial duties, making the FBI the de-facto lead...
"While most individual sources may expect confidentiality, the Government offers no explanation, other than administrative ease, why that expectation always should be presumed." [IV] Thus, when Theoharis and company were in the middle of fighting in court to obtain J. Edgar Hoover files, they may well have benefited from Landano and also Janet Reno's assertions of the government's need for "greater openness" and "discretionary releases" in 1993.
The controversial Executive Order 13233, drafted by Alberto R. Gonzales and issued by George W. Bush on November 1, 2001, shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, restricted access to the records of former Presidents. Executive Order 13233, restricting access to the records of former presidents and drafted by White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales, was issued by President George W. Bush on November 1, 2001 shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks. ...
Alberto R. Gonzales (born August 4, 1955 in San Antonio, Texas, USA) is the current United States. ...
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American businessman and politician, was elected in 2000 as the 43rd President of the United States of America, re-elected in 2004, and is currently serving his second term in that office. ...
November 1 is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 60 days remaining. ...
2001: A Space Odyssey. ...
A sequential look at United Flight 175 crashing into the south tower of the World Trade Center The September 11, 2001 attacks (often referred to as 9/11—pronounced nine eleven or nine one one) consisted of a series of coordinated terrorist[1] suicide attacks upon the United States, predominantly...
E-mail In the case of Scott Armstrong et al. v. Executive Office of the President et al., the White House used the PROFS (I - pg. 142) computer communications software. With encryption designed for secure messaging, PROFS notes concerning the Iran-Contra affair (arms-for-hostages) under the Reagan Administration were insulated. However, they were also backed up and transferred to paper memos. The National Security Council, on the eve of President George H.W. Bush's inauguration, planned to destroy these records. The National Security Archive, Armstrong's association for the preservation of government historical documents, obtained an injunction in Federal District Court against the head, John Fawcett, of the National Archives and Records Administration and the National Security Council's purging of PROFS records. A Temporary Restraining Order was approved by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Barrington D. Parker. Suit was filed at District Court under Judge Richey, who upheld the injunction of PROFS records. [I Рpgs. 151-152] North fa̤ade of the White House, seen from Pennsylvania Avenue. ...
OfficeVision is an IBM proprietary office support application that runs on IBMs VM operating system and its user interface CMS. OfficeVision provides email, shared calendars, and shared document storage and management, and it provides an ability to link to other applications such as word/text editors. ...
The Iran-Contra Affair (also called the Iran-Contra Matter and Iran-gate) was one of the largest political scandals in the United States during the 1980s. ...
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989), and the 33rd Governor of the state of California (1967–1975). ...
Order: 41st President Vice President: Dan Quayle Term of office: January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993 Preceded by: Ronald Reagan Succeeded by: Bill Clinton Date of birth: June 12, 1924 Place of birth: Milton, Massachusetts First Lady: Barbara Pierce Bush Political party: Republican George Herbert Walker Bush, KBE (born...
The National Archives building in Washington, DC The United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records. ...
Richey gave a further injunction to prevent a purging of the G.H.W. Bush administration records as well. On counts of leaving the White House clean for the new Clinton Administration, the Bush group appealed but was denied its request. Finally, the Clinton Administration appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals, stating that the National Security Council was not truly an agency but a group of aides to the President and thus not subject to FOIA regulations. Under the Presidential Records Act, "FOIA requests for NSC [could] not be filed until five years after the president ha[d] left office… or twelve years if the records [were] classified." [I – pg. 156] The Clinton administration won, and the National Security Archive was not granted a writ of certiorari by the Supreme Court on these grounds. According to Scott Armstrong, taking into account labor and material costs, the three presidential administrations spent almost $9.3 million on contesting the National Security Archive FOIA requests for PROFS e-mail records. (I - pg. 159) William Jefferson Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. ...
The United States Courts of Appeals (or circuit courts) are the mid-level appellate courts of the United States federal court system. ...
In English Law certiorari (Latin, to inform) is a public law relief (i. ...
The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States...
See also Barbara Schwarz, née Bretschneider, is a German expatriate now living in Salt Lake City, Utah. ...
Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy, also called the Moynihan Secrecy Commission, was a bipartisan commission in the United States created under Title IX of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 (P.L. 103-236) to conduct an investigation into all matters in any...
In the United States, there are a number of individual pieces of freedom of information legislation, as well as a number of other sunshine laws intended to increase the openness and transparency of government. ...
Over sixty-one countries around the world have implemented some form of freedom of information legislation, which sets rules on governmental secrecy, the oldest being Swedens Freedom of the Press Act of 1766. ...
This article is becoming very long. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
The U.S. intelligence communitys secret historical document reclassification program is a project to reclassify certain documents that have already been declassified and released to the public through NARA. The program was started under the Clinton administration in the fall of 1999. ...
External links
References I) Theoharis, Athan G. (Ed.) A Culture of Secrecy: The Government Versus the People’s Right to Know. Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1998.
II) Branscomb, Anne W. Who Owns Information?: From Privacy To Public Access. New York: BasicBooks, 1994.
III) "Freedom Of Information Act." U.S. Gov. Info/ Resources by About.com. [1]
IV) "United States Dep't of Justice v. Landano (91-2054), 508 U.S. 165 (1993)." Cornell Law School Resources. [2]
V) "Your Right to Federal Records: Questions and Answers on the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act, 1992." Electronic Privacy Information Center. [3]
VI) "Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy 1997." Federation of American Scientists. [4]
VII) "Statement of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan Before the Committee on Governmental Affairs; United States Senate." Federation of American Scientists. [5]
VIII) "The Federal Information Manual." P. Stephen Gidiere III. American Bar Association (2006) [6]
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