What Is the Freedom of Information Act and How Does It Work?

The Freedom of Information Act is a 1966 federal law that gives any person the right to request records from federal executive branch agencies. It works on a straightforward premise: government records belong to the public unless there is a specific, legitimate reason to keep them confidential. You do not need to be a U.S. citizen to file a request, and you never have to explain why you want the records.¹ Agencies generally have 20 working days to respond. Nine exemptions let them withhold certain sensitive material, but they must still release whatever portions of a record are not protected.

Which Agencies You Can Request Records From

FOIA covers executive branch agencies only. That includes all fifteen cabinet departments, independent regulatory agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, military departments, and government-controlled corporations such as the United States Postal Service.²

It does not reach Congress or the federal courts. You cannot use FOIA to obtain records from the Senate, the House, the Supreme Court, or any lower federal court. State and local governments have their own public records laws with their own rules. Private companies and nonprofits that receive federal funding are also outside FOIA’s reach, unless the records you want happen to be held by a federal agency.¹

Check the Reading Room First

Before you file anything, look at whether the records already exist online. Every agency must maintain an electronic reading room posting certain categories of records without anyone asking. These include final opinions and orders in agency case decisions, policy statements not published in the Federal Register, internal staff manuals that affect the public, and records previously released through FOIA that are likely to be requested again.² Starting there can save weeks.

How to File a Request

A FOIA request has to be in writing and has to describe the records clearly enough that agency staff can find them with a reasonable search.² You do not need an exact file name or document number. But vague requests, such as “all records about immigration,” will either be rejected or generate enormous fees. Be specific about the program, office, date range, and type of document.

Most agencies accept electronic submissions. You can file through FOIA.gov, which routes requests to the right agency, or you can mail or fax a request directly to an agency’s FOIA office.³ Contact details are published on each agency’s website. Electronic filing is easier to track because you get a confirmation number immediately.

If you want records about yourself, the Privacy Act of 1974 offers an additional route, and agencies commonly process such requests under both laws at once to maximize disclosure. The Privacy Act also lets you request corrections to inaccurate personal records held by federal agencies.⁴

What It Costs

FOIA sorts requesters into four categories, and your fees depend on which one you fit into:

Commercial requesters pay for search time, document review, and copying. This is the most expensive category.
Educational and noncommercial scientific institutions pay only for copying, and the first 100 pages are free.
News media representatives are treated the same as educational requesters: copying only, first 100 pages free.
Everyone else pays for search time beyond two hours and copying beyond 100 pages, with no review fees.

If the information would meaningfully contribute to public understanding of government operations and your request is not primarily for commercial gain, you can ask for a fee waiver. The statute requires agencies to provide records at no charge or reduced cost when those conditions are met.² A fee waiver request should spell out how you plan to share the information and why the public would benefit. Vague assertions about “government accountability” tend to be denied.

How Long It Takes

An agency has 20 working days, not counting weekends or federal holidays, to decide whether to grant your request after it reaches the right office. Complex requests routinely take longer in practice. If the agency has to search multiple offices or review a large volume of records, it can extend the deadline by up to 10 additional working days with written notice.² The clock can also pause once if the agency needs clarification from you or has to resolve fee issues.

Many agencies use a multi-track system, sorting requests into simple and complex queues. A request for a handful of clearly identified documents might come back in days. A request covering years of records across multiple offices can sit for months. Narrowing your request is the single most effective way to move it into the faster track.

Expedited Processing

If you have an urgent need for the records, you can ask for expedited processing, and the agency must decide within 10 calendar days.² To qualify, you generally need to show one of two things: a delay could pose an imminent threat to someone’s life or physical safety, or, if you are a journalist or someone who disseminates information to the public, there is genuine urgency in informing the public about government activity. Your request must include a certified statement that the facts supporting your claim are true and correct. The bar is high, and most expedited requests are denied.

What Agencies Can Withhold

The default under FOIA is disclosure. Nine exemptions let agencies withhold specific types of information, and even when an exemption applies, the agency has to release any reasonably separable, non-exempt portions.

Exemption 1 covers classified national security information properly classified under an executive order to protect national defense or foreign policy.
Exemption 2 covers an agency’s internal personnel rules and practices, such as employee parking assignments or shift schedules.
Exemption 3 applies when a separate federal statute specifically bars disclosure. The Central Intelligence Agency Act and certain tax return protections are common examples.
Exemption 4 shields trade secrets and confidential commercial or financial information that companies submit to the government.
Exemption 5 protects internal government deliberations, including draft documents and internal memos, so officials can debate options candidly before making decisions. This privilege expires for records created 25 or more years before the request date.⁵
Exemption 6 prevents disclosure of personnel files, medical records, and similar files when release would be a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
Exemption 7 covers law enforcement records and is the broadest exemption in practice. It can protect records when disclosure could interfere with an ongoing investigation, reveal a confidential source, endanger safety, or expose investigative techniques.⁶
Exemption 8 covers examination and condition reports prepared by agencies that regulate banks and other financial institutions.
Exemption 9 protects geological and geophysical information about wells. It rarely comes up outside the energy sector.

The Foreseeable Harm Standard

Since 2016, agencies cannot withhold a record just because it fits an exemption. They also have to show that releasing it would cause foreseeable harm to an interest the exemption is designed to protect, or that disclosure is specifically prohibited by law.² Before the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, an agency could technically withhold a 30-year-old memo under Exemption 5 just because it counted as an internal deliberation. Now the agency has to articulate what harm disclosure would actually cause.⁷

Glomar Responses and Exclusions

Sometimes an agency will refuse to confirm or deny whether records exist at all. This is called a Glomar response, named after a Cold War-era case involving a ship called the Glomar Explorer. The idea is that acknowledging records exist would itself cause the harm the exemption is meant to prevent. Confirming that the FBI has investigative files on a specific person, for example, could reveal a secret investigation. Glomar responses come up most often around national security or personal privacy, and you can appeal one the same way you appeal any denial.⁸

The statute also contains three narrow exclusions that let agencies treat certain records as if they do not exist. These cover records related to ongoing criminal investigations where the subject is unaware, certain confidential informant records, and FBI records related to foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, or international terrorism whose very existence is classified. Exclusions are used rarely and last only while the triggering conditions do.²

What to Do If You’re Denied

If your request is denied in whole or in part, the agency has to tell you which exemptions it relied on and explain your right to appeal.² Filing an appeal is free. You submit it in writing to the agency head or designated appeals officer, explain why the denial was wrong, and include copies of your original request and the agency’s response.

The statute guarantees you at least 90 days from the date of the denial to file. The agency then has another 20 working days to decide.² You can also seek help from the agency’s FOIA Public Liaison or the Office of Government Information Services, which acts as a federal FOIA ombudsman and mediates disputes.

Filing a Lawsuit

If your appeal is denied, or the agency simply never responds within the statutory deadline, you can file a lawsuit in federal district court. You can sue where you live or work, where the agency records are located, or in the District of Columbia.² The court reviews the case from scratch and can examine the withheld records privately to decide whether the agency’s withholding was justified. The burden of proof falls on the agency, not on you.

If you win, the court can order the records released and may award reasonable attorney fees and litigation costs.² To qualify for fee recovery, you need to have “substantially prevailed,” which can mean either getting a court order or prompting the agency to voluntarily release records after you filed. Fee awards are not automatic and stay within the court’s discretion. People who represent themselves without a lawyer generally cannot recover attorney fees.

1
FOIA.gov. Freedom of Information Act: Frequently Asked Questions
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 552 – Public Information; Agency Rules, Opinions, Orders, Records, and Proceedings
3
FOIA.gov. FOIA.gov – Freedom of Information Act
4
U.S. Department of the Interior. Privacy Act Requests
5
FOIA.gov. Freedom of Information Act Statute
6
U.S. Department of Commerce. FOIA Exemptions and Exclusions
7
Office of Information Policy. OIP Summary of the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016
8
National Archives. NCND/Glomar: When Agencies Neither Confirm Nor Deny the Existence of Records