• FOIA is the acronym for the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), or it was when it became law in 1966. Since then, it’s come to stand for Feds Obfuscating, Impeding and Abusing. One of the first “open government” laws in the world often just highlights federal agencies shirking transparency and continuing dysfunction.
• FOIA was initially conceived by U.S. Representative John E. Moss in the 1950s. It requires U.S. government agencies to disclose full or partial documents upon request, with nine exemptions to protect several types of records from disclosure.
• Congressman Moss was a champion of transparent and functional government. He would assuredly be dismayed that federal agencies don’t follow the spirit of the law even as they claim to follow the letter of it.

Tagged: Politics