National Security Archive Marks 45th Birthday of U.S. Freedom of Information Act, Exposes Backlog Problems

From the National Security Archive at George Washington University:

Forty-five years after President Johnson signed the U.S. Freedom of Information Act into law in 1966, federal agency backlogs of FOIA requests are growing, with the oldest requests at eight agencies dating back over a decade and the single oldest request now 20 years old, according to the Knight Open Government Survey by the National Security Archive at George Washington University (www.nsarchive.org).

The Knight Survey of the oldest requests utilized the FOIA to examine the actual copies of the oldest requests from the 35 federal agencies and components that process more than 90 percent of all FOIAs.  It shows that the oldest requests in the U.S. government were submitted before the fall of the Soviet Union.  These unfulfilled requests – some are for documents that are themselves more than 50 years old – are victims of an endless referral process in which any agency that claims “equity” can censor their release.

Ten Agencies with the Oldest Outstanding FOIA Requests in response to our December 2010 requests:

National Archives	May 8, 1991*
Defense Intelligence Agency	August 31, 1993*
Air Force	April 19, 1995*
National Security Agency	May 2, 1996*
Central Intelligence Agency	October 7, 1998**
Army	January 30, 2001**
Department of State	February 8, 2001**
Department of Energy	February 14, 2001**
Dpt Health Human Services	October 9, 2001**
Department of the Interior	October 9, 2002*

*=Oldest request provided to National Security Archive was different than reported in annual FOIA report.

**=Did not provide final response to National Security Archive request for oldest documents.

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