Sunshine in Government Initiative

FOIA Examples

Examples of FOIA Delays - Federal

How long do some FOIA requesters wait?

Some FOIA requesters have been waiting for over a decade for their requests to be processed. At the Department of Agriculture, processing times are as high as 905 business days. At the Environmental Protection Agency, processing times are as high as 1,113 business days.

Source: "Justice Delayed, Justice Denied: The Ten Oldest Pending FOIA Requests," The National Security Archives of George Washington University, November 17, 2003; http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB102/

In 2003, the National Security Archive looked into just how long some requests are left unfilled. This non-governmental organization found that some of the oldest requests dated back to the 1980's before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The oldest of these was a request to the FBI for information on the Bureau's activities at the University of California. First filed in November 1987 this request was partially filled in 1996 after extensive litigation. The documents that were released revealed "unlawful FBI intelligence activities and efforts to cover up such conduct." After a 2002 article in the San Francisco Chronicle and inquiries made by Senator Dianne Feinstein, the Bureau acknowledged that there were at least 17,000 pages of records that still had not been produced. Since then, some data has been released but it is believed that more than 15,000 pages remain outstanding. (Statement from Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) for Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on 3/15/05)

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture for failing to provide numerous documents to the animal protection organization which has been requesting them since 2001 under FOIA. When USDA failed to post annual reports for 1999 on its Web site by January 2001, the HSUS submitted a FOIA request for the reports. By January 2005, the HSUS has received only 24 of approximately 1,400 documents requested. In July 2002, the HSUS submitted a request that the USDA provide a list of all research facilities that house or conduct research on ape species. Two and a half years later, the USDA had still not fulfilled this request. (Source: The Humane Society of the United States).

On December 23, 2004, University of CA, Davis professor Larry Berman filed suits against the CIA under FOIA in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California seeking release of historic President's Daily Briefs (PDBs) given to President Johnson during the Vietnam War. He is challenging the CIA's "blanket policy" of refusing to release any PDBs, even historic or innocuous ones that risk no damage to national security. Professor Berman first contacted the CIA by letter on March 3, 2003. The CIA's denial of Berman's FOIA request claimed that the PDBs were predecisional documents protected by deliberative process privilege, but the lawsuit points out that the CIA is precluded by law from giving the President policy advice. The available PDBs are purely factual documents reporting on world developments six days a week. (Source: The National Security Archive, George Washington University http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/pdbnews/)

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the District Court for DC for failing to produce documents pursuant to FOIA. CREW filed a FOIA request with the USDA on 1/11/2005 after learning that the Dept. of Education had paid pundit Armstrong Williams to promote the No Child Left Behind Act. CREW had asked the USDA to produce any records relating to contracts the USDA may have entered into with any public relations firms. (US Newswire, CREW Sues USDA for Documents Regarding PR Contracts, 3/16/2005)