FOIA Matters
FOIA nurtures our democracy through transparency and accountability, helping countless people each year learn about some aspect of their government. Federal departments and agencies received nearly 600,000 FOIA requests in the year ending September 30, 2010. Though journalists are not the most frequent users of the law, their work brings the most public exposure to FOIA. From stories revealing injuries caused by shattering bakeware and a 1970s FBI investigation of New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner to racial inequality of Presidential pardons and $1.2 trillion in public money quietly loaned to big banks and brokerage firms during the economic downturn, FOIA played a role. Some examples:
ProPublica and the Washington Post reported in December 2011 that whites are nearly four times as likely as minorities to receive Presidential pardons, even when the types of crime and severity of sentences are taken into account. Pro-Publica obtained documents through FOIA from the Office of the Pardon Attorney naming individuals denied pardons;the independent nonprofit newsroom also used documents obtained through FOIA by Professor P. S. Ruckman, Jr., of Rock Valley College in Rockford, IL.
Consumer Reports magazine used FOIA to obtain complaints filed with the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) about glass bakeware unexpectedly shattering. As a result of a year-long investigation, the magazine reported in January 2011 that the bakeware shattered in the oven, on the countertop, or while being held, sometimes causing injuries by flying shards of hot glass. (Members of the public no longer have to file FOIA requests to get such information; safety incident reports about all products regulated by the CPSC are now available in a database available at SaferProducts.gov. That is just one example of many in which agencies proactively disclose information.)
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Best Practices: Search FOIA analysts task record holders to search for requested documents, a process that several agencies aim to streamline with forms to help with searches. The Office of Management and Budget uses a FOIA Search Checklist that lists offices where responsive records may be found. The checklist doubles as a quality-control tool to ensure responses have been received from all offices that are expected to have responsive records. The Surface Transportation Board added language to its search form that reminds offices that although records could be covered under an exemption, a foreseeable harm analysis should be performed even if the satellite office thinks that a record should not be released. The Commodities Futures Trading Commission requires FOIA professionals to sign a "FOIA Response Form," a certification of their search and review. |
FOIA helped the New York Times obtain contract documents from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that contributed to a November 2010 story describing how Dairy Management, a USDA marketing arm, spent $12 million on a marketing campaign promoting a cheesier Domino’s pizza while other USDA offices discouraged Americans from eating too much cheese.
The Center for Public Integrity and NPR used FOIA to obtain from the Environmental Protection Agency a once-confidential list of serious or chronic violators of the Clean Air Act, which the media outlets reported on in November 2011.
Joseph D. West, a Washington, DC, lawyer with the firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, used FOIA to obtain a contract between the National Park Service and Tourmobile, which for 40 years held the Park Service’s contract for guided tours of the National Mall. The contract indicated that for the last three years, the Park Service extended the contract without competitive bidding required by law, Washington City Paper reported in July 2011. The Park Service responded by revamping its contracting process.
Bloomberg News reported in August 2011 that the Federal Reserve loaned banks and other financial companies as much as $1.2 trillion in public money before, during, and after the 2008 financial crisis, about the same amount owed at the time by U.S. homeowners on 6.5 million delinquent and foreclosed mortgages. Data gleaned from 29,346 pages of documents obtained under FOIA contributed to Bloomberg’s investigation, which also revealed that nearly $300 billion went to Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Bank of America.
The Associated Press reported in December 2010 that former FBI Director Clarence M. Kelley, in response to an inquiry from Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox, ordered an investigation in 1973 into George Steinbrenner and his Cleveland-based American Ship Building Co. for illegal campaign contributions. AP found the revelation in 400 pages of Steinbrenner’s FBI files released under FOIA after his death.
