Freedom of Information Act

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) generally provides that any person has a right, enforceable in court, of access to federal agency records, except to the extent that such records (or parts of them) are protected from disclosure by one of nine exemptions or one of three special law enforcement record exclusions. The FOIA does not affect local or state records. Most states have their own laws covering these local records.

Most family history researchers will never have to resort to the FOIA. The vast majority of federal records used by family historians are easily accessed. Researchers with additional questions should study the Freedom of Information Act Guide and Privacy Act Overview (U.S. Department of Justice, September 1994 Edition) from which the following information on the Freedom of Information and Privacy acts was extracted:

Enacted in 1966, the FOIA established for the first time an effective statutory right of access to government information. The basic purpose of the FOIA is to ensure an informed citizenry, vital to the functioning of a democratic society and necessary to check corruption and to hold the governors accountable to the governed.

Under the FOIA, virtually every record possessed by a federal agency must be made available to the public in one form or another, unless it is specifically exempted from disclosure or specially excluded from the act's coverage in the first place. The nine exemptions of the FOIA (below) ordinarily provide the only bases for nondisclosure and generally are discretionary, not mandatory, in nature. Dissatisfied record requesters are given a relatively speedy remedy in the United States district courts, where judges determine the propriety of agency withholdings de novo and agencies bear the burden of sustaining their nondisclosure actions.

"Agency records" are documents which are (1) either created or obtained by an agency, and (2) under agency control at the time of the FOIA request. Each federal agency is required to publish in the Federal Register the procedural regulations governing access to its records under the FOIA. These regulations must inform the public of where and how to address requests; of what types of records are maintained by the agency; of its schedule of fees for search, review, and duplication; of its fee waiver criteria; and of its administrative appeal procedures.

FOIA requests can be made for any reason whatsoever, with no showing of relevancy required; because the purpose for which records are sought "has no bearing" upon the merits of the request, FOIA requesters do not have to explain or justify their requests. The FOIA specifies only two requirements for access requests: that they "reasonably describe" the records sought and that they be made in accordance with agencies' published procedural regulations.

Once an agency is in receipt of a proper FOIA request, it is required to inform the requester of its decision to grant or deny access to the requested records within ten working days. Agencies are not necessarily required to release records within ten days, but access to reasonable records should be granted promptly thereafter.

Exemption 1 of the FOIA prohibits disclosure of national security information.

Exemption 2 exempts from mandatory disclosure records related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency.

Exemption 3 incorporates the disclosure prohibitions that are contained in various other federal statutes.

Exemption 4 protects "trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person that is privileged or confidential."

Exemption 5 protects "inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party . . . in litigation with the agency."

Exemption 6 permits the government to withhold all information about individuals in "personnel and medical files and similar files" where disclosure of such information would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy. This exemption cannot be invoked to withhold from a requester information pertaining only to himself.

Exemption 7, as amended, prohibits disclosure of records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes.

Exemption 8 covers matters that are contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions.

Exemption 9 covers geological and geophysical information and data, including maps, concerning wells.