1. 1
“A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a
Farce or a tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to their own
Governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives” (James Madison). This statement by James
Madison the Fourth President of the United States opens up to a Citizens guide of how to learn about our
government and hold them accountable when need be through the Freedom of Information Act. Our founding
fathers when writing the Bill of Rights and Constitution sought for an open and transparent government where
everyone can be involved and to learn about how our government functions and to what they are doing.
The first attempt of a Freedom of Information was passed by Sweden in 1766 called the Freedom of the Press Act of
1766. This act abolished the censorship of any printed publications including of those on theological and academic
subjects.This act guaranteed that there would be public access to documents drawn up by the government agencies
of Sweden. At the time however as during colonial times in the United States it permitted the writing against the
King of Sweden and the State.
The Freedom of Information is defined as regulations and laws “that provide members of the community with a
legally enforceable right of access to information in the possession ofgovernment” (Zifack 1998:941-942). In 1946
the United States passed the Administrative Procedures Act. This was to be the first development of a freedom for
information. The problem however was that
Between a citizen’s need to show that he or she was properly and directly concerned and an
agency’s ability to withhold information for undefined good cause,the APA became a basis for
withholding information despite the clear intent of the congress to promote disclosure. (U.S. Senate 1974:6-
7)
With frustration of the Administrative agencies not disclosing information freely to the public, there was a growing
call for something to be done by little known Congressmen from California named John Moss. John Moss believed
that thorough knowledge of government and its actions and the decision making process within administrative
agencies were essentialfor the public. He believed that with a tool of information given to the public they could
make intelligent informed decisions about who they were electing and what their government is doing. Moss
disapproved of government secrecy and did not appreciate being stonewalled by federal agencies during his time as

2. 2
congressman.Moss worked for 12 years trying to develop and pass a Freedom of Information act law but had many
obstacles along the way.
During the late 1940’s and into the 1950’s the cold war was waging between the United States and the Soviet Union,
government secrecy was at its height. Moss tangled first with then US President Dwight Eisenhower. AuthorBruce
Ladd noted in his book “Crisis in Credibility,” that the attitude of federal agencies was, “when in doubt, classify.”
The secrecy labels were put on academic articles to the agency reports on wasteful spending. The reason according
to Moss this was done more for the fact of protecting agencies from embarrassment rather than protect legit
government secrets. Moss served as a first term member of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee and
was immediately frustrated by his inability to obtain information from the federal agencies regarding public
information.
His first problem came along when he requested documents from the U.S. Civil Service Commission on the firing of
2,800 federal employees, who were alleged fired for “security reasons.” Moss said that the Civil Service
Commission refused to furnish the information to him. At the time with a Republican President and Congress in
power Moss would have to wait till a shifting of the guard. Democrats had regained control of the house in 1955 of
Moss’s second termin office. He encouraged the new Democratic leadership to create a special subcommittee on
Government Information as a part of the committee on Government Operations and have Moss be the Chairman of
this group.Almost every executive branch department testified against the FOIA bill before Moss’s subcommittee
saying that it would disassemble the federal government agency operations of keeping secrets where it was deemed
appropriate.
On the Congressionalrecord of June 20, 1966 Moss said to the speaker in quote Mr. Speaker, our system
of government is based on the participation of the government, and as our population grows in numbers it is
essentialthat it also grow in knowledge and understanding. We must remove every barrier to information
about - and understanding of - Government activities consistent with our security if the American public is
to be adequately equipped to fulfill the ever more demanding role of responsible citizenship (Moss,1966).
Moss garnered support for the bill by contacting newspapers,reporters, editor’s scientists and educators.These
groups of people supported Moss’s legislation and called for more open government (Lemov, 2007). Moss went on

3. 3
to conduct ongoing investigations ofsome cases where withholding certain information seemed unjustified and this
received broad press coverage. With the Democrats taking over the White House Moss had assumed his bill would
see no trouble from a Johnson Administration; he was wrong. Johnson was not too fond of the concept letting
citizens know information about the government. The Johnson Administration called upon its main witness of the
proposed FOIA bill with assistant Attorney General Norbert A. Schlei. Attorney General Schlei strongly opposed
against this bill. Schlei testified in quote “the problem is too vast,too protean to yield to any such solution ” (Lemov,
2007). During the Justice Departments testimony no such alternative was presented to Moss’s bill and there was a
threat that this bill would be vetoed if it reached President Johnsons desk.
At one point Moss’s subcommittee was being threatened with a loss of funding due to the ongoing back and forth
with FOIA. When the act was passed by the House and Senate, he was called out by then House Speaker John
McCormack and had been advised President Johnson wanted the bill to be “deferred”. When Moss was asked about
these conversations years later he said that “I would not have even talked to the president about the bill, if he wanted
me to. I did what I had to do” (Lemov, 2007). Moss would later receive help from a freshman Republican
congressman from Illinois Donald. Rumsfeld who became a member of Moss’s subcommittee. Rumsfeld had rallied
Republican support for the bill and there was the threat of political hurt to democrats and the Johnson
Administration in 1966 that had forced Johnson to sign the act.
Moss had paid a price for his work with the FOIA. While he had been made as a deputy majority whip in his
beginning years of congress and looked even to be the next speaker or majority leader, because of his actions to fight
against the leadership due to FOIA he had been eliminated from the leadership chart of the house. There are
unwritten rules that certain lawmakers live by and that is to not oppose the speaker of the house,senate majority
leader and president if they are of yourparty no matter how divisive and issue may be; Moss risked all of this in
order to see the FOIA pass. Moss would later return in his years in congress to amend the FOIA and strengthen it.
With the bill finalized on President Johnson’s deskhe decided to sign the bill while not to hold a public hearing for
it, which was atypical of Johnson.He issues a signing statement instead when making FOIA the law. “This
legislation springs from one of our most essential principles: a democracy works best when the people have all the
information that the security of the nation will permit” (Johnson,1966). In his statement he had attempted to
undermine the law by mainly focusing on the exemptions for national security and the FOIA room for interpretation.

4. 4
The infamous part of Johnson’s signing statement is his last sentence “I sign this measure with a deep sense of pride
that the United States is an open society”.
In 1974 after the Watergate scandalfrom the Nixon Administration Congress had amended the FOIA to what bill
mainly consists oftoday. The House and Senate introduced new requirements of the FOIA including timeframes,
sanctions for information that is wrongly withheld from the public and language waiving the fees for journalists and
public interest groups.President Ford’s Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld who was an early supporterwith
Congressman Moss on the FOIA and the head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel Antonin Scalia a
current Supreme Court Justice pushed for President Ford to veto this bill with the amended changes ,President ford
agreed for a veto. In Ford’s veto message he called the bill Unconstitutionaland was worried that national secrets
would be at risk and thought the deadline of ten days were too burdensome. An excerpts from Ford’s veto message
state “First, I remain concerned that our military or intelligence secrets and diplomatic relations could be adversely
affected by this bill” (Ford, 1974). The House and Senate overrode President Ford’s veto and the act would become
permanent.
The FOIA was later amended in 1976 through the Sunshine Act to clarify the terms and exemptions and would again
in 1986 through the Anti-Drug Abuse Act.President Ronald Reagan in 1982 issued Executive Order 12356 which
had created new classification rules for the government to withhold sensitive government information as a response
to make FOIA requests much easier. Years later Reagans Attorney General Edwin Meese wrote in a memorandum
asserting that government could deny the existence of certain requested memos but this measure was never adopted.
Ronald Reagan issued many tight restrictions on the FOIA but many of his decisions were reversed when President
Bill Clinton had released many documents that were classified from the Cold War era for historical and archival
purposes.
President Bill Clinton in 1996 signed into law the Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments. President
Bill Clinton in quote “Since 1966, the world has changed a great deal. Records are no longer principally maintained
in paper format. Now, they are maintained in a variety of technologies,including CD ROM and computer tapes and
diskettes,making it easier to put more information on-line”(Clinton, 1996). Clinton had acknowledged how
technology was changing and he called for greater transparency in allowing these documents to be made public
electronically. He also extended the time frame from ten to twenty days of response times from agencies.

5. 5
After September 11, 2001 the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon President George W.
Bush put restrictions on government transparency.With Executive Order 13233 it limited access to former
presidential records which drew displeasure from historians and archivists.He later amended FOIA to limit the
access of government records from that of foreign governments through the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2002.
In 2007 President Bush signed into law the Open Government Act of 2007; it was the first major reform of FOIA in
more than a decade. In Public Law 110-175 of the 110th Congress the first paragraph it stated that this bill was “to
promote accessibility, accountability, and openness in Government by strengthening section 552 of title 5, United
States Code (commonly referred to as the Freedom of Information Act), and for other purposes”. The act consisted
of allowing all freelance and alternative journalists be considered a part of the media which made it less expensive
for them to access government information. Provided for attorney fees when a requesters lawsuit prompted an
agency to change its course on a request even if the court doesn’t order it. It created a tracking systemto help
regulate FOIA requests so as to they wouldn’t be lost or forgotten. Establishing the office of Government
Information Services which had the job of resolving conflicts between requesters and the agencies. Penalized
agencies that didn’t process FOIA requests within the 20 day period. The Act clarified that requesters can also gain
access to private contractors instead if just agencies and it imposed greater reporting requirements to congress and
the public to let them know how they are handling these requests.
In 2009 President Obama’s first day in office he issued a memorandum on FOIA reform and promised to lead “the
most transparent administration in history”. He called for streamlining agency responses,refusing to use FOIA
exemptions that had been abused in the past and promised to declassify many documents.The President stated that
FOIA “should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt,openness prevails”.President Obama
instructed agencies to not withhold information merely because “public officials might be embarrassed by
disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears”. The President
directed then Attorney General Eric Holder to issue FOIA guidelines for the department heads “reaffirming the
commitment to accountability and transparency”.During Sunshine week on March 19th, 2009 Attorney General
Holder issued these guidelines (Department of Justice, 2009).
A significant rescinding by Attorney General Holder was of the October 12, 2001 Memorandum on the FOIA and it
had established a new standard for defending the agency decisions to withhold information. When a FOIA request

6. 6
is denied the agencies will now be defended “only if (1) the agency reasonably foresees that disclosure would harm
an interest protected by one of the statutory exemptions, or (2) disclosure is prohibited by law”. Along with the new
principles intact the Attorney General addressed in a range of guidelines, principles that are applicable to
establishing an effective systemfor improving transparency within the Obama Administration.
These set of guidelines include
New approaches to responding to requests and to working with requesters,New, more limited standards for
defending agencies when they deny a FOIA request, New requirements to maximize the use of technology
to disclose information, New requirements to post information online affirmatively, in advance of FOIA
requests,New Focus on the broad array of agency personnel whose actions impact the FOIA, New
accountability requirements, particularly for agency Chief FOIA Officers who must report to the
Department of Justice each year (Department of Justice, 2009)
“To implement these new guidelines agencies must review all aspects oftheir approach to transparency and
incorporate these principles into all decisions’they make involving the FOIA to ensure that the presumption of
disclosure is fully realized in practice” (Department of Justice)
The Freedom of Information Act sought to balance four concerns,open access,privacy, necessary secrecy and
government ability to obtain information (Rosenbloom 2003). The FOIA promotes access to citizen’s right for
information. There is not a requirement within the FOIA that the information given to the public be properly
directed with the concern of the information sought.Anybody can askfor anything but fees are attached depending
on the information sought out.The FOIA is a disclosure statute meaning it does not prohibit the release of any
information. It does however permit the agencies to withhold categories of information at the agencies discretion.
The categories that are withheld are called exemptions and there are nine of them.
When making a FOIA request there are several steps to abide by that’ll help the process ofretaining a request.
Number one; verify that the records in question cannot be obtained by anothermethod. The FOIA requests can be
expensive and the requests made might already be available for viewing. The Electronic FOIA Reading Room on
the FOIA website provides a list of these reading rooms that might have the information (Georgetown Law Library).
Number two; identify the appropriate agency FOIA contact. Each Federal agency subject to the FOIA has an officer

7. 7
that handles these requests. Sending your request letter directly to the agencies FOIA Officer will help speed up the
process.
Number three, research the agencies FOIA regulations and fees. Take a little time to familiarize the regulations of
the agency regarding their fee schedule and the procedures for granting expedited review of qualifying requests.
Some agencies post their fee schedules in the electronic FOIA reading rooms. Number four writing the request
letter. Many of the Agencies have FOIA form request letters on their FOIA home pages. The requester should make
a hard copy and label the letter as a FOIA request and it should include in writing, contact information, a description
of the records requested (include the subject matter), an offer to pay reasonable charges for actual search time and
for photocopies,a statement setting an upperlimit on the amount of money you are willing to pay for the agency’s
response and a request for response within 20 working days (Georgetown Law Library). FOIA does not apply to
Congress,the Supreme Court or the President along with nine exemptions for requesting information.
These include 1. National defense or foreign policy information that is properly classified for secrecy. 2.
Information “related solely to the internal personnelrules and practices of an agency.” 3. Information that
is specifically prohibited from disclosure or regulated by anotherstatute.4. “Trade secrets and commercial
or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential.” 5. Interagency or intra-
agency memos or letters that would not be available by law to a party in litigation with the agency.6.
“personneland medical files and similar files the disclosure of which constitute a clearly unwarranted
invasion of personal privacy.” 7. Law enforcement records, to the extent that releas e could reasonably be
expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personalprivacy or would interfere with enforcement
proceedings,fair trials and hearings,confidential sources,investigations and prosecutions,or an
individual’s physical safety.8. Information pertaining to the regulation of financial institutions.9.
“Geological and geophysicalinformation and data, including maps, concerning wells” (Rosenbloom, 2003)
With the more description used to obtain information the more likely you are to get what you wanted. If the
requesterdecides to request a fee waiver they must be aware that agencies promulgate their own regulations for
determining when a waiver is appropriate. There are statutory grounds forexpedited review which include the “(1)
imminent threat to the life or safety of an individual and (2), when the requesteris a reporter, an urgent need to
inform the public about actual or alleged federal government activity”. The agencies may promulgate regulations

8. 8
setting forth other reasons for expedited review. Number five, the agencies response,by statue agencies are required
to grant or deny FOIA requests within 20 working days except in extenuating circumstances. If there is an
extenuating circumstance the agency will write a written notice to the requestorthat includes the new deadline
sought and why there is a delay. If you had requested expedited review the agency then must grant or deny you
faster processing within 10 days of the request. If the agency denied your request,it must explain the reasons for the
denial and notify you of yourright to make an appeal.
Number six the appeal process; the administrative appeals are made to the head of the agency involved within 30
days of a requests denial. Each agency has its own regulations related to the appeals process.If your administrative
appeal is denied or the agency doesn’t respond to you within 20 twenty days you are allowed to file a FOIA lawsuit
in the federal district court within the district you reside, principal area of business,where the agency resides or in
the District of Columbia.
Within the Freedom of Information community there are complaints about the obstacles entailed with trying to get
information. Robert Gellman the former chief counselto the House committee with FOIA oversight says that “It’s
fair to criticize the FOIA” but he says that “more than 90% of FOIA requesters get everything they want. They don’t
always get it on time or with the fee waivers they are entitled to, but the law works -fitfully, slowly, but it works”
(McMasters,1996). Common complaints within the FOI include that sometimes actual responses take years.FOIA
officials say that due to a lack of resources and on average 600,000 requests a year that they do not have enough
man power to process all of them. Incentives for releasing information by government workers are lacking, but they
face severe penalties for releasing sensitive information. There are inconsistencies between language of the FOIA
and laws such as the Privacy Act, Computer Matching and Privacy Act, Government in Sunshine Act, Federal
Advisory Committee Act, Computer Security Act, Whistleblower law and other such regulations. There is an
increasing compacting of information and development if external systems of communication allowing these
agencies to circumvent the law (McMasters,1996).
Gary Bass of OMB Watch said that “The FOIA should become the vehicle of last resort for public access.If
government did its job responsibly,it would take the initiative in making information available. (McMasters,
1996)”. Max Jennings an editor of the Dayton Daily News suggests having direct electronic release of government
information. “It is technically possible in many instances for government to put its records online at the same time

9. 9
they are generated,and then the American people can access themspeedily and completely, without interp retation”
(McMasters,1996). With the rush of federal agencies wanting to become paperless it has caused a sharp decline in
a record management system. Testimony before the Commission on Protecting and Reducing government Secrecy
predicted the extreme costs and slowing down of access to records unless the government management systems are
more up to date.
Organizations such as the Office of Government Information Services along with other groups advocate for FOIA
and how to improve the systemto allow for better transparency.There are a few suggestions that came from there
Mid-Year review in 2011. ”Designs and implements a formal mediation program to expand mediation services that
are currently provided. (OGIS, 2011)”. “Provides dispute resolution skills to FOIA professionals every two months”
and establishing a better strategy for a systematic review of agency policies and practices to ensure a consistency
government wide with compliance of FOIA.
The Congressional Research Office reviewed the FOIA in March of 2011 and discussed the Monitoring of Agencies
use of Exemption three. During the hearing Rick Blum the coordinator for the Sunshine in Government Initiative
suggested to the committee
Take a hard look at these exemptions when they’re proposed and make sure that they’re absolutely
necessary,that they’re narrowly described, that they don’t cover additional information, make sure that the
drafting is narrow, make sure that they are publicly justified, and make sure that we have a chance to all
weigh in (Ginsberg, 2014).
Congress suggests requiring that any agency that claims b (3) exemptions to publicly justify the need for that
exemption. In the review Congress says that without public justification of an exemption, the public will never learn
why it is needed. Anothersuggestion could be for Congress to amend FOIA to require Congress to include a policy
justification that explains a need for any new withholding statue as a necessary requirement for that statue to qualify
as a b (3) exemption (Ginsberg, 2014). The Center for Effective Government claims that dozens of agencies have
not yet updated their FOIA regulations to reflect the passing of the Open Government Act of 2007. In December of
2013 they compiled a report of eight best practices for agency FOIA regulations. These suggestions include a need
for expanding proactive online disclosures,use the internet to process requests more efficiently, tracking FOIA

10. 10
requests promptly, Communicate betterwith requesters,applying a presumption of disclosure and prevent the
destruction of records, limit and streamline confidential business information claims, clarify the fees and waiver
procedures and improve the administrative appeals and dispute resolution (Center for Effective Government, 2013).
In 2014 the news has been pushing President Obama and Congress to move forward with a Bill sponsored by Sen
Leahy (D-VT) called the FOIA Improvement Act of 2014. It was introduced in the Senate on June 24, 2014, this act
would require for improvements to “(1)require federal agencies to make agency records that can be disclosed under
such Act available for public inspection in an electronic format, (2)limit the authority of an agency to charge a fee if
the agency misses a deadline complying with a FOIA request,(3) establish a presumption in favor of disclosure and
prohibit the application of exemptions from FOIA based on technicalities, (4) expand the authority and duties of the
Chief FOIA Officer of each agency for promoting compliance with the FOIA disclosure requirements and (5)
establish a Chief FOIA Officers Council to develop recommendations for increasing compliance with FOIA
requirements(Congress.gov, 2014). Currently this Legislation was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary where
it sits.In September of 2014 an article by The Hill was published discussing that 50 different groups are pushing
President Obama on Senator Leahy legislation for the FOIA Improvement Act of 2014, the group includes
government watchdogs,civil liberty and media advocacy groups.These groups claim that earlier in President
Obamas Presidency that he directed agencies to adopt a policy that favored the disclosure of documents unless the
information fell under an exemption or would cause trouble for the government (Trujillo, 2014).
“A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to a Farce or a
tragedy or perhaps both.Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to their own Governors,
must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives” (James Madison). Throughout the History of the FOIA it has
been amended for more openness and transparency.While nothing is perfect and administrations can be more
secretive than others or call for transparency and don’t abide by it, it will be up to the people to call upon their
government to act where they must.

11. 11