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25, 29 – 31 Staffing also may be an issue. 21 – 27 In addition to the concerns about security, protecting confidential corporate and personal information, and ensuring government efficiency, the large number of FOIA requests-612,000 in fiscal year (FY) 2009, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ), 28 some of which can produce thousands of responsive documents that must be reviewed by staff-can pose a challenge to FOIA implementation.īacklogs of FOIA requests from previous years may slow agency response to new requests. 18 – 20 Nonetheless, despite the current administration's pronounced public commitment to FOIA, some reports suggest that it has, similar to previous administrations, faced challenges in actual FOIA execution. The Holder and Presidential FOIA memorandums were well-received by journalists and open-government advocates who had regarded the Ashcroft memorandum's change in emphasis from previous FOIA policy with skepticism and concern.
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15 In a January 2009 memorandum to federal agency leaders, President Barack Obama set a different tone for his incoming administration, writing that FOIA “should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails.” 16 Two months later, Attorney General Eric Holder issued a memorandum expressly rescinding the Ashcroft memorandum and advising that “n agency should not withhold records merely because it can demonstrate, as a technical matter, that the records fall within the scope of an FOIA exemption.” 17 For example, enhanced security concerns following 9/11 prompted then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to issue a memorandum to federal agencies in October 2001 recognizing FOIA's importance in promoting accountability and reducing fraud and government waste, but also emphasizing “other fundamental values held by our society” including “safeguarding our national security,” “protecting sensitive business information,” and promoting “functional and efficient” government. In enacting FOIA, Congress strived to balance the encouragement of government disclosure and the need for accountability with a desire also to “protect certain equally important rights of privacy with respect to certain information in Government files, such as medical and personnel records.” 14 This attempt to balance government accountability and transparency with protection of sensitive information has characterized FOIA debates since its enactment. FOIA's enactment came amid concern that the then-in-effect law was “used more as an excuse for withholding than as a disclosure statute.” 12 – 14 One contemporaneous legislative report noted the “vastness” of the government and the need to promote trust and accountability. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of FOIA for public health practice.įOIA, enacted in 1966, is part of the Administrative Procedure Act, which includes provisions governing rulemaking, administrative hearings, recordkeeping, and public information. This column explains the history of FOIA's enactment, explores its operational elements, and discusses other relevant laws that may overlap with FOIA or prove useful when FOIA is inapplicable, including the Privacy Act and state freedom-of-information and open-public-meeting laws. Over the years, FOIA has played a central role in advancing public health policy by enabling investigations and research on topics as wide-ranging as human radiation experiments conducted during the Cold War, 3 – 5 federal farm subsidies, 6 – 8 reports about ill airline passengers, 9 implementation of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, 10 and distracted driving due to cell phone use.
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All states also have enacted laws governing open access to governmental information, many with provisions similar to the federal FOIA. 1 FOIA is important to public health practitioners for at least three reasons: its power to aid public health advocacy, its impact on government accountability and transparency, and its ability to aid public health practice and policy-making. This installment of Law and the Public's Health provides an overview of the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).