FOIA Examples

Top FOIA Examples

1. People Needed Liver Operations
   A FOIA request by the Los Angeles Times revealed that more than 30 people died while awaiting liver transplants over two years at UC Irvine Medical Center, while the hospital turned down scores of donated organs. As a result of the information revealed from the August 2005 request, the federal government rescinded its approval for the hospital's liver transplant program and halted funding. UCI performed only 12 liver transplants between August 2004 and July 2005 but had been offered 122 livers. Many of the rejected livers, deemed poor quality by UCI, were subsequently transplanted at other hospitals. The number of transplants performed fell below the minimum requirement for federal funding. The FOIA request also revealed a survival rate well under the rate required for federal certification. Both the number of surgeries performed and the survival rate were cited as reasons for the hospital's decertification. (Los Angeles Times, Charles Ornstein and Alan Zarembo "Irvine Liver Transplant Program Loses Government Approval" 11/10/05)


2. Delayed Response Kept Quiet
   The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) refused to release under FOIA the results of a satisfaction survey of hurricane victims. A FOIA request filed by The News-Press of Fort Myers, Fla. for survey score summaries, score calculations, results and customer comments was denied because the agency deemed the data confidential. FEMA had asked 10,953 of the 316,000 people who received home inspections after hurricanes Charley, Frances, Jeanne and Ivan how well their inspectors performed. More than 2,900 people responded. The agency, which has been heavily criticized for its delayed response to Hurricane Katrina, would only reveal the number of surveys sent out and the number of responses received. (The News-Press, Melanie Payne, "FEMA survey data kept secret, News-Press sought storm questionnaire results" 11/27/05)


3. Resident Indicated For Fraud.
   Hurricane Frances made landfall more than 100 miles north of Miami-Dade County in late summer 2004, with winds in the area reaching only 47 MPH. But that didn't stop thousands of county residents from receiving nearly $28 million in federal disaster aid, according to FOIA information obtained by the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. Information revealed that residents used their relief checks to pay for things like 5,000 televisions allegedly destroyed by Frances, as well as 1,440 air conditioners, 1,360 twin beds, 1,311 washers and dryers and 831 dining room sets.
   
   The South Florida Sun-Sentinel filed a federal lawsuit to force the release of government records on the distribution of millions in disaster aid following four hurricanes in 2004. The suit charges that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has failed to produce records requested through FOIA.
   
   Fourteen Miami-Dade residents were indicted on federal fraud charges, and the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs is also investigating FEMA payments. (South Florida Sun Sentinel, "Newspaper sues for access to government disaster aid records" 3/10/2005)


4. Unsupervised Peace Corps Activities
   The seven-part investigative series "Casualties of Peace" by Dayton Daily News reporters Russell Carollo and Mei-Leing Hopgood found that Peace Corps volunteers are sent to live alone in remote areas of some of the world's most dangerous countries and left unsupervised for months at a time. While warnings about safety from those at the Peace Corps were often ignored, the series revealed that volunteers have died at the rate of about one every two months since 1962. As a result, both the House and Senate have initiated reform legislation and the series has sparked worldwide debate. The reporters interviewed more than 500 people, traveled to 10 countries, filed 75 FOIA requests and, ultimately, sued the Peace Corps in federal court to pry free public records. The series has won five national awards and was a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for investigative reporting. (Dayton Daily News, "News Wins Another Award for Series: Investigation Dealt with Safety of Peace Corp Volunteers" 6/22/04)


5. No Knowledge of Self-Interest Medication
   The AP found that researchers at the National Institutes of Health were collecting royalties on drugs and devices they were testing on patients who did not know of their financial interests in the products. That breached an NIH promise to Congress in 2000, and the practice ended under a new policy announced when the story hit the wire. (The Associated Press, "Patients not told of researchers' financial ties to studies" 1/11/05)


6. New Problem on Planned Biolabs
   A 361- page U.S. Army report on an anthrax contamination at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases was obtained through a FOIA request. The report brings into question whether facilities that are medical and microbiological may not be suitably equipped for dealing with aerosolized versions of organisms that they otherwise deal with in great safety and whether it is safe to establish similar labs in urban centers throughout the country. The incident also raised fears that anthrax had leaked into the water-supply of nearby Frederick, Maryland. (USA Today, "Anthrax slip-ups raise fears about planned biolabs" 10/28/04)


7. Source on Water Spilling Revealed
   Since the deadly hepatitis A outbreak linked to Baja California green onions in late 2003, Mexico has imposed an unprecedented food safety program that exceeds practices in the United States. It's Mexico's first mandatory food safety certification program. According to food and drug administration reports obtained by the San Diego Union-Tribune through a federal FOIA request, human and animal waste was spilling into a pond that provided water for the packaging process. (Copley News Service, Diane Lindquist, "Mexico begins unprecedented food safety program" 5/16/05)


8. Body Armor Fails Tests
   The US Marine Corps issued body armor to nearly 10,000 troops that government experts urged the corps to reject after tests revealed critical, life threatening flaws in the vests. In all, the corps accepted 19,000 Interceptor outer tactical vests that failed government tests due to "multiple complete penetrations" by 9mm pistol rounds, failing scores on other ballistic or quality assurance tests, or a combination of the two. According to documents obtained through FOIA, the service rejected advice not to use the vests. (Defense News, Christian Lowe, "US marines accepted defective body armor, partial recall ordered after newspaper investigation" 5/9/05)


9. Six Farmers Received $400,000
   Six Kansas farms received more than $400,000 each in federal farm subsidies last year, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture documents. One farm received $508,000 - the most of any farm in the state. Documents were obtained by the Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act. Current law limits farmers to $360,000 in subsidies a year, but with loopholes that allow farmers to exceed it. The Bush administration proposed lowering the limit to $250,000 and closing loopholes. (The Associated Press State & Local Wire, "Six Kansas farms receive over $400,000 from USDA last year" 5/6/05)


10. Thousands of Past Criminals Fail to Show Up
    Federal law requires illegal aliens convicted of heinous crimes like rape, murder and child molestation in America to be deported once they have served their jail terms. Thousands of these aliens are still in the country because federal immigration officials failed to show up when these criminals were released from jail. Despite numerous requests by Cox Newspapers, the Justice Department won't release the government database that could help journalists and the public identify illegal aliens in their community who should have been deported. (Source: Mark Tapscott's testimony before the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security of the Senate Judiciary Committee 3/15/05)


11. Aircraft Brakes Produce Failures
    Military documents obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Request revealed incidents of brake failures on U.S. fighter jets. The AP received about two-dozen formal reports from the Naval Safety Center in Norfolk, Va. describing failures of the F/A-18 Hornet jets' antiskid brakes since 1990. The incidents caused the loss of one jet, damage of at least $1 million to another, damage of up to $200,000 on three additional jets, one serious injury and one other overnight hospital stay. While officials acknowledged that their tally of formal reports probably understates the number of brake failures, the Navy told the AP that redesigning the brake system was unwarranted and would require lengthy and costly new safety reviews. (The Associated Press, "Brakes pose problems for Navy fighter jet" 8/8/05)


12. 1999 FOIA Still Lost in 2005
    In 1999, reporter Jeff Nesmith of the Cox Newspapers Washington bureau submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Pentagon seeking information relating to the federal government's armed intervention at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas. Nesmith, a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent, subsequently had a conversation with a FOIA officer and received a formal letter of reply in mid-October of 1999 indicating that the Pentagon was still working on his request. Years passed. Then, in early 2005, Nesmith received an e-mail from FOIA analyst Aaron Graves saying that his original 1999 FOIA request had been discovered as part of a "recent audit/inventory of our open FOIA cases." While "the case still shows as open within our system, we are unable to locate the case file...If you have not received anything and are still interested in this information, the only (thing) we could do is have you resubmit your request. You would be placed back in the queue and we would proceed by locating documents responsive to your request." (Source: Andy Alexander, Cox Newspapers Washington bureau chief)

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