Nearly 50 years after passage of the Freedom of Information Act, federal agencies continue to struggle to release requested information to the public in a timely manner. That's according a new report from the Center for Effective Government.
"FOIA is a valuable tool for allowing the public access to information, but agencies have struggled to implement the law," CEG said, in the newly released Making the Grade: Access to Information Scorecard 2015. "This can make it challenging for citizens to actually use the power that FOIA provides them. FOIA requesters complain about long delays in receiving answers to their requests, inappropriate withholding of information, and unhelpful service by agencies. Despite ongoing efforts by the Obama administration and Congress to improve implementation of our key national disclosure law, consistent, sustained performance remains elusive."
For the second year in a row, CEG looked at the performance of the 15 agencies that accounted for 90 percent of the FOIA requests the government received over the last two years. CEG focused on those agencies' performance in three areas: Continue>>>
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