Donald Trump has cited his administration as being” the most visible in history” on numerous occasions. But many agencies have come under scrutiny after the removal of entire offices accountable for Freedom of Information Act requests that now faced frequent backlogs.
According to href=”https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/18/politics/opm-privacy-team-fired” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener” title=””>CNN, the federal government has cut public records workers across a number of important organizations, including the href=”https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/opm/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener” title=””>Office of Personnel Management, the , and offices within the Department of Health and Human Services.
HHS said it is restructuring its data request approach.
A HHS spokesperson told the Washington Examiner,” Streamlining HHS’ FOIA activities will raise regularity by standardizing the Department’s approach to extreme transparency.”  ,
The new FOIA layoffs, according to Gunita Singh, a team lawyer at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, are a “blow to transparency,” warning that the state is making it even more difficult to get public information and follow the law.
” Editors trying to cover the operations and activities of the state are being stymied, and it’s finally us, the people, who loses out on essential knowledge”, Singh said.
FOIA has endured difficulties for years.
The Freedom of Information Act, signed into law in 1967,  , marked a significant shift toward accessibility in the federal government. The consumer is not able to obtain internal records from governmental agencies unless they are protected for reasons like national security or privacy.
But, FOIA queues have been mounting for decades as companies face hiring challenges and challenge to upgrade outdated techniques. Some agencies were on the precipice as a result of limited resources and growing desire, which made them increasingly able to meet lawful dates.
The pandemic deteriorated long-standing FOIA disruptions, with some companies halting operations completely. The FBI temporarily shut down its FOIA department and stopped processing digital requests, citing protection restrictions tied to labeled systems. Even before new personnel cuts under the Trump presidency, the federal government was falling behind.
Federal authorities reviewed how they handled public records calls under the Biden administration in their annual FOIA accounts that were submitted to the Department of Justice in March. The studies show sharp distinctions in efficiency. While some organizations slash queues, people leave the majority of calls unresolved.  ,
The State Department performed the worst. Nearly 97 % of FOIA requests went unanswered by year’s end. Officials attributed the delay to difficult records, joint reviews, and persistent staffing and tech shortages. The Interior Department followed with a 53 % delay, citing dispute requires and uneven running across its departments. The Federal Aviation Administration’s rise in difficult calls, especially those from the Federal Aviation Administration, and limited staffing, helped the Department of Transportation not far behind, at 43.9 %.
A handful of companies managed to stay on top of the boom. The Commerce Department earned a 5.4 % overall rating, thanks to proactive planning and early engagement. The Education Department reported a 5.5 % backlog despite a 62 % spike in requests, which the agency attributed to tech upgrades and department-wide training. A boom in duplicative, high-volume calls and personnel cracks, in particular at the IRS, which received more than 60 % of all FOIA requests submitted to the office, led to a 21 % delay, according to the Treasury Department.
And while the Department of Homeland Security received over 911, 000 calls, more than any other company, it reported holding its delay to 24.1 % by automating processes and streamlining immigration information processing. A flood of politically charged demands, staff costs, hiring freezes, and mounting complaints were blamed on a 24.5 % FOIA backlog, according to HHS.  ,
The ministries of Veterans Affairs, Energy, and Labor have not yet made their information available to the public. Agencies were expected to publish their Foi information online by March 17, 2025, and notify the Office of Information Policy.  ,
The decline of FOIA exposure
HHS immediately eliminated Epic teams at the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health in March, bringing data processing to a nearby stop.
While some companies have begun restoring FOIA workers, people appear to have their headquarters closed, such as the CDC, according to several current and former staff.
A response to the CDC’s FOIA-specific email address was automatically read,” For all Epic calls, kindly go to the HHS FOIA Office website,” according to the Washington Examiner.
During a media conference last quarter, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he was “restoring all the FOIA practices”, but the ministry has no outlined specific programs. He claimed that getting information from HHS may be “much simpler,” and that his organization may” as much as we can” post documents to its website.
A former CDC FOIA worker who was laid off next month and spoke on the condition of secrecy expressed concern about consolidating FOIA team. He noted that organizations like the FDA, CDC, NIH, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have typically set up independent teams to manage their own people records, which reflected the distinctive characteristics of each agency’s work.
” Each agency is so specific, and filling requests is more complicated than most people realize”, the person said. It frequently calls for an in-depth understanding, which is why it’s crucial to house the FOIA staff within each agency.
” I worry the backlog is going to grow even more”, the person added, mentioning the office receives anywhere from 1, 000 to 2, 500 FOIA requests a year.  ,
The true number of staff involved in processing FOIA requests is made even more of a complicated matter because several agencies have relied on contract support to assist with the initial stages of FOIA processing, as confirmed by the DOJ Chief FOIA Officer’s Report.
The National Park Service’s staffing has been drastically reduced, according to a program manager who oversees a FOIA contract for the agency. Only two people are currently employed by the Washington Support Office, leaving the agency with just two full-time employees.  ,
The person claimed that some federal agencies have a deep understanding of FOIA processing, with contracting staff handling almost every step of the process, including putting together redactions, collecting and reviewing records, applying redactions, and preparing final responses. Government FOIA officers must sign off before anything is released.
Without our team’s assistance, FOIA requests will be much slower now because NPS does not have the personnel to handle the majority of them, the person said, under the condition of anonymity.  ,
” Summer time actually typically results in a rise in requests,” says one author. Due to the influx of patrons at national parks, they will be going into a busy season with basically no staff”.
A FOIA employee at the Department of Defense claimed they hadn’t seen layoffs on their team but that it was because of systemic issues linked to hiring freezes and a locked USAJobs system, which had prevented even hiring candidates who had been approved.  ,
The employee made reference to holdups at Pentagon levels, and said,” There’s a bottleneck in the shape of a five-sided building.”  ,
The majority of DOD is hurting for staff, but not because of [reduction in force]. Latent turnover stings when we don’t expect to be able to hire for at least the next year”, the person said, speaking anonymously for fear of retaliation.  ,
Litigate or be left in the dark ,
The agency’s backlog has been growing for years, according to Lauren Loricchio, who leads Tax Notes ‘ investigation team and has written extensively about IRS FOIA delays. But like many agencies, she noted, the IRS has been tight-lipped about what’s going on behind the scenes.
We haven’t been able to confirm that FOIA employees were fired. … The IRS media team really hasn’t been very forthcoming. When we inquired about this, they essentially said they wouldn’t comment,” Loricchio said in an interview with the Washington Examiner.  ,
Attorneys rely on FOIA to access client records from the IRS, Loricchio explained, especially in cases involving tax disputes. While the IRS has made some information available through online accounts, litigation is becoming the only way to get information.
People are expected to have to litigate more to obtain information from the government, she said, noting that appeals are rarely successful, which makes it more difficult and costly for people to obtain records.  ,
According to the suspension rate, which was about 93 %, appeals are simply saying yes and agreeing to the IRS’s decision to deny information. And I mean it, that seems like a problem”, she said.  ,
Even Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group known for public records litigation often aimed at uncovering information about Democratic officials and administrations, said it is increasingly being forced to fight in court just to access basic records.
President Tom Fitton cited a pending legal dispute involving the United States Agency for International Development over the disclosure of Gaza’s recipients of a$ 7 million grant after the federal government declined to reveal the names of the grant recipients. It cited concerns that such disclosure could endanger aid workers by making them targets for Israeli forces.
According to Fitton, the judge didn’t find the excuse to not provide information to be particularly impressive. ” Our view was that there was an obligation to provide records under FOIA”.
Fitton dismissed concerns about recent FOIA staffing cuts, saying there are “plenty of people in the offices who can do the work.” His deeper frustration lies with the lack of transparency across federal agencies.
He said,” The fight is now over what they’re not giving us and what they’re hiding from us that they found,” referring to the group’s lawsuit against USAID.  ,
According to Fitton, the main issue lies in leadership, not staffing, and that FOIA responsiveness shouldn’t depend on whether a case” comes across the Attorney General’s desk,” but rather on a governmentwide commitment to public accountability.
” There should be a directive, not only from the Justice Department, from other agencies, or maybe even the president could do an EO making this a priority if we want accountability that the people expect”, he explained. This ought to be handled differently from case to case.
Congressional Democrats sound alarm on cuts
Top Democrats are putting more pressure on the Trump administration because of what they perceive as a deliberate attempt to undermine government transparency.  ,
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR ), the senior Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, challenged the administration’s commitment to transparency in a letter sent to Kennedy on May 8.
” It is essential that FOIA offices have the resources to disclose appropriate information to the public in response to records requests”, he wrote,  , mentioning that the federal law has” served as the basis for groundbreaking public reporting, litigation, and legislation” to improve government programs.
By May 22, Wyden requested specific answers, including which officials approved the dismissals and how the department intends to carry out its legal obligations under FOIA.
Still, Wyden may be left waiting. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA ), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, also pressed for answers by writing a letter to CDC acting director Dr. Susan Monarez opposing the decision to sideline 22 FOIA staffers ahead of their planned termination on June 2.  ,
Committee members claim that the administration has not yet provided a meaningful response, and that the investigation into the firings is still ongoing.
” Donald Trump is on a crusade against transparency”, Connolly told the Washington Examiner.
He will go to great lengths to keep his administration from being held accountable for its flagrant violations of the law, deceive independent inspectors general, and stop at nothing to silence the American people.
” This disturbing pattern of secrecy is not aligned with our nation’s laws or values, and Democrats will keep fighting to protect Americans ‘ freedoms”, he added.
JUDGE FINDS DOGE WORKS IN “UNUSUAL SECREC Y” AND REQUIRES RECORDS REQUESTS.
While many Republicans support the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce, one GOP senator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said there must still be a plan to ensure agencies can comply with the law and continue processing FOIA requests.
There is plenty of room for downsizing, the senator said,” Look, I’m not crying over these staff cuts, there’s plenty of room for downsizing,” but we’ve got to make sure there’s enough staff to meet the government’s obligations to meet these requests.” ” If these backlogs get even worse than they’ve been in the past, then I’m supportive of boosting the numbers”.
