A New U.S. House Oversight and Gov Reform Committee Staff Report Says FOIA is “Broken”

Key Findings From Report (via U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Website):

• The Executive Branch culture encourages an unlawful presumption in favor of secrecy when responding to FOIA requests.

• The administration is unaware that FOIA is systemically broken.

• Agencies create and follow FOIA policies that appear to be designed to deter requesters from pursuing requests and create barriers to accessing records.

• FOIA requesters have good reason to mistrust even fair and earnest attempts by agencies to fulfill requests. In the words of one requester, “something is desperately wrong with the process.”

• The Department of State had numerous open requests that are nearly a decade old, making them arguably the worst agency with respect to FOIA compliance.

Direct to Background and Summary

Direct to Full Text Report (46 pages; PDF) and Embedded Below

Legislation: Read and Track H.R. 653, the FOIA Act, in U.S. Congress (via GovTrack.us)

See Also: FOIA Reform Bill on Fast-Track for a Vote in the House (OpenTheGovernment.org)

UPDATE Jan 12, 2015: House Passes FOIA Reform, Again (Via Politico)

FOIA Is Broken: A Report by LJ's infoDOCKET