Restore force to FOIA for its 50th anniversary
As this nation’s landmark Freedom of Information Act approaches its golden anniversary, its luster has grown increasingly tarnished.
The act, signed by former President Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1966, has long stood as a legal affirmation of the American people’s right to know about the inner workings of their government – warts and all. It guarantees full or partial disclosure of unreleased information and documents controlled by the government.
Journalists at The Vindicator and throughout the country, acting as the watchdogs for all citizens, have used this essential tool for decades to both report positive trends and developments of our public servants as well as to uncover fraud, abuse and irregularities inside taxpayer-funded agencies.
A few examples show use of the FOIA has succeeded in detailing torture of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, in unearthing former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover’s sinister files on Beatle John Lennon and extricating email files and other questionably classified documents of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Throughout its existence, however, some have tried to dilute the intent and weaken the force of the act in order to keep some potentially embarrassing, sensitive or even criminal information from the public domain.
For example, after reports that 19 veterans died and dozens were injured by delays in medical screenings at VA hospitals, the Department of Veterans Affairs refused to comply with FOIA requests to release the names of the hospitals. Another group has waged an FOIA battle with the State Department for more than 13 years to acquire details of phone conversations of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the 1970s.
In 2013, the Obama administration refused 81,000 FOIA requests based on an exemption to the law that permits withholding any information that reveals how policy decisions were reached. That’s a whopping 50 percent increase over use of that exemption under former President George W. Bush’s last year in office.
At a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform earlier this year, Sharyl Attkisson, a former CBS News investigative reporter, lamented the loss of teeth in FOIA. The law, she said, has devolved into “a pointless, useless shadow of its intended self.”
FOIA IMPROVEMENT ACT
Fortunately, such disappointing trends have motivated several public-spirited legislators to say enough is enough. Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., have introduced the FOIA Improvement Act of 2015 with strong bipartisan support. It also deserves universal public support for its many promising provisions.
Its meaty provisions merit quick bipartisan adoption because they could go far toward lowering secrecy in government, heightening public confidence in government and restoring some of the lost luster of the hallmark act just in time for its 50th anniversary.