Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Academy/Filing a Freedom of Information Request in the United States

What is the Freedom of Information Act?

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a United States federal law that establishes the public's right to obtain information from federal government agencies. The FOIA is codified at 5 U.S.C. Section 552, and has gone through many changes since its inception in 1966. The last three presidential administrations have "yo-yo'd" the FOIA, from unabashed information release (Clinton-era), to denials and delaying information release (Bush-era), to "presumption in favor of disclosure" (Obama-era).

Who does the FOIA apply to?

The Freedom of Information Act applies to federal government agencies only. While other agencies at the state and local level may have similar processes for releasing information, FOIA will not apply specifically to them.

Who can make a FOIA request?

"Any person" can file FOIA requests, including U.S. citizens, foreign nationals, organizations, associations, and universities.

Note: when you submit a FOIA request, your name, date of request and information requested becomes part of the public record. Your information can be retrieved by others, through requesting the FOIA logs from the federal agencies. True anonymity can be had by hiring an organization that does FOIA requests under their moniker – your name is kept out of it, and the request is still made.

What can I request with FOIA?

Anything that constitutes a record: air traffic control tapes, digital images, print photographs, hardcopy printouts of graphical organizational slides, plain paper text documents. Whatever means the government used to record the information is available under FOIA – this does not mean that you will get the media for free. In some cases, time and material to copy the information (i.e. burning a CD) may be charged under FOIA fees.

FOIA exemptions

Exemptions are reasons the government will not release some records requested under FOIA. Some information may endanger national security, while other data may give competitive advantage to companies. There are nine exemptions, as listed below:

• Exemption (b)(1) – National Security Information
• Exemption (b)(2) – Internal Personnel Rules and Practices
  • "High" (b)(2) – Substantial internal matters, disclosure would risk circumvention of a legal requirement
  • "Low" (b)(2) – Internal matters that are essentially trivial in nature.
• Exemption (b)(3) – Information exempt under other laws
• Exemption (b)(4) – Confidential Business Information
• Exemption (b)(5) – Inter or intra agency communication that is subject to deliberative process, litigation, and other privileges
• Exemption (b)(6) – Personal Privacy
• Exemption (b)(7) – Law Enforcement Records that implicate one of 6 enumerated concerns
• Exemption (b)(8) – Financial Institutions
• Exemption (b)(9) – Geological Information

Unless a request is specifically worded for all releasable information, something as small as one exempted sentence may get a document release denied.

How much will a FOIA cost?

The cost of filing a request for information under the FOIA depends upon the category of requestor. There are several categories, including:

1. Commercial
2. Educational/non-commercial
3. News Media
4. Other

The cost of filing a request may change over time. As such, it is recommended that Wikipedians considering filing a request contact the relevant agency beforehand to determine the cost.

How to submit a FOIA

Before submitting an FOIA request, it is recommended that a thorough search of reliable third party sources be carried out first to see if it is even necessary. Once that is done, and you have decided that you want to submit a request, the following steps may help:

1. Narrow down the scope of your request – for example, if you were interested in UFOs, writing a FOIA to the Air Force for "everything about UFOs" would get you a nice form letter stating nothing of interest. If, however, you can narrow it down by specific characteristics (i.e. name, date, place, location of file, title of document), this will allow higher probabilities of success for records retrieval.
2. Know where to send the request – It would do no good to send a UFO request to the Department of State, just as it would be useless to send a treaty text request to the United States Air Force. Have a good idea where to send the request to, because while most offices will attempt to forward it on to the right place, some FOIA managers don't know where the right place is. Again, more specific the request, higher probability of success.
3. Understand what fee category you are in – By establishing the correct fee category, you will be appropriately charged for the government's search and reproduction efforts. If you are in the wrong category, you may be assessed inappropriate fees. Example: you are in the "Other" category requesting a photo CD of static aircraft displays at an Air Force Base. You absent-mindedly forget to mention your fee category in the request. When the disc is mailed to you, the agency charged you $22.00/hr for research/searching, and $3.50 for the CD. Under the "Other" category, you know that the first two hours of search are free, as well as the first 100 reproduced pages.
4. Decide how much you want to pay – while FOIA has the word freedom in the title, this means the information's access should be free, not "free information". Some agencies, such as the United States Air Force, have a minimum dollar amount set (i.e. $25.00). If the request falls below this amount, fees may be waived in most cases. You may also use the fee request amount as a "tripwire"; requesting information you know to be in the tens of pages, you can request a low amount, usually guaranteeing that the agency will contact you if the amount goes above your submission amount.
5. Send the request – while this seems obvious, there are multiple ways to make FOIA submissions. Some agencies, such as the United States Air Force, National Reconnaissance Office, and National Security Agency have online submission forms, saving you the cost of a stamp. Others, such as NOAA allow email submissions. Most, if not all, agencies still accept hand-written mailed requests – the timeline is longer, and you may not have an "record" of your submission.
6. Follow up on the request – if you do not receive an acknowledgement letter within 20 business days (about a calendar month), then write back, mentioning that you submitted a previous request and ask the status. Most acknowledgement letters will have a number or code to reference when corresponding with the agency. Some FOIA offices have phone numbers to call for quicker responses. The article "Notes From The Field: How To Submit An FOIA Request" provides guidelines about the process
7. Denials and appeals – if the information you are seeking is denied, you can appeal the decision with the agency, within a set amount of time. If the appeal is not accepted, there are ways to bring the FOIA request through legal channels. Some businesses exist to perform FOIA requests for customers – their experience in legal battles with the government must not be underestimated. In many cases, the deep legal pockets have gotten information released!

Successful examples

• The Aerospace Data Facility is a term for recently declassified NRO ground stations. After seeing the term pop up in many places on the web, a FOIA request was submitted to the NRO. Specifically, the request stated "...any releasable information concerning the terms Aerospace Data Facility or ADF, in conjunction with NRO operations..."
  • While the NRO did not meet the 20 day suspense for release of information, eventually a FOIA response came down in the form of a two page memorandum. The boon of information gained from this memo is undetermined, but it cost the requestor nothing in reproduction or search fees.

• Information about the 323d Air Expeditionary Wing (a GWOT-deployed United States Air Force unit) was requested from the Air Force Historical Research Agency. Its whereabouts were kept under wraps by the Bush Administration during its time activated, however, FOIA-requested historical records stated its location was in Romania.
  • The United States Air Force's new eFOIA system allows for FOIA submissions in a web-based form. It also allows retrieval of information through either 1) U.S. postal mail, 2) electronic mail, or 3) web download on the eFOIA Electronic Reading Room.

Using information obtained under FOIA on Wikipedia

Most of the information obtained under FOIA will likely be considered primary sources. As Wikipedia is a tertiary source, it is largely based upon secondary sources. Nevertheless, primary sources can be used for certain information and in certain situations. It is important, though, to use them appropriately. Policy guidance on how to use such information can be found here: WP:PRIMARY.

See also

• Freedom of Information Act – Wikipedia page
• Obama Administration: Freedom of Information Act memorandum
• National Security Archive: FOIA basics
• National Security Archive: Graphical representation of FOIA request
• National Reconnaissance Office: Freedom of Information Act
• United States Air Force: Freedom of Information Act