FOIA (Freedom of Information Act)
Federal law granting public access to government records
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a United States federal law enacted in 1966 that grants any person the right to request access to records held by federal agencies. It operates on the presumption that government information belongs to the public unless it falls under one of nine specific exemptions related to national security, personal privacy, law enforcement, and other protected categories.
FOIA has been one of the most powerful tools for exposing government wrongdoing. The law forced the release of documents confirming programs like COINTELPRO, MKUltra, Operation Mockingbird, and the NSA's mass surveillance apparatus. Without FOIA, many of the claims documented on They Knew would still be classified as "conspiracy theories" rather than confirmed facts.
The process is straightforward in theory but often slow in practice. A requester submits a written request to a federal agency identifying the records sought. The agency has 20 business days to respond, though backlogs routinely push actual delivery to months or years. Agencies can redact information under the nine exemptions, and requesters can appeal redactions or file lawsuits to compel disclosure.
Key FOIA victories include the release of the Pentagon Papers supporting documents, CIA torture program memos, FBI surveillance files on thousands of American citizens, and NSA internal audits showing systematic violations of surveillance rules. Organizations like the National Security Archive, MuckRock, and the ACLU have used FOIA extensively to build public archives of previously secret government activity.
Critics argue that FOIA has been weakened by excessive use of exemptions, deliberate delays, and the increasing classification of documents. The Brennan Center for Justice estimated that the government classifies approximately 50 million documents per year, far outpacing the rate of declassification.