ABSTRACT
In 1966, Congress passed the Freedom of Information Act, known as FOIA, which presumes that the public is entitled to government records and that the government can withhold documents from the public only if it can prove the need to do so. Public records laws specify under what conditions public agencies can withhold information. The FOIA requires all federal agencies to respond to requests within 20 days. But the federal government handles so many requests—almost 790,000 in 2016—that there is a backlog. Sometimes a government agency will release some records but deny others. And sometimes within the records it releases it will take out or redact words, names, sentences, paragraphs or whole pages. Some agencies, such as the Department of Defense, post their FOIA logs online. Others can be found at sites such as the National Security Archives, Muckrock and Government Attic, which catalog public records requests.
