FOIA News: Where art thou, annual reports?

As of 9:58am today, the following departments have not yet posted their annual reports for FY 2025: Agriculture, HHS, DHS, DOJ, Labor, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.

FOIA News: 2025 annual report data due today

The deadline for agencies to post their annual FOIA reports for FY 2025 was Sunday, March 1, 2026, which effectively is today. As of 9:40am, the heaviest government FOIA lifters, DHS, DOJ, and DOD, have not posted their reports. Nor has the DOJ-operated website FOIA.gov been updated to reflect FY 2025 data.

The Department of State’s recently posted report is not a good omen: its request backlog jumped nearly 30 percent from 21,615 requests to 27,619 requests.

Stay tuned for more updates.

FOIA News: Transportation's request backlog up 39% in FY 2025, per report

On February 26, 2026, the Department of Transportation released its annual FOIA report for fiscal year 2025. Some of the key figures are below:

• 20,475 requests received, up from 18,345 requests in FY 2024.

• 16,941 requests processed, up from 16,080 in FY 2024.

• 11,250 backlogged requests, up from 8048 at the end of FY 2024.

• Response times for all processed perfected requests were about 80 days on average for “simple” requests and 262 days on average for “complex” requests.

• Processing and litigation costs totaled $19,639,088; fees collected for processing requests were $92,814.

• 80 requests for fee waivers were granted and 45 were denied.

• 51 requests for expedited processing were granted and 429 were denied.

Read more here.

FOIA News: NARA posts 2025 annual report

The National Archives and Records Administration has issued its annual FOIA report for fiscal year 2025. Here are a few of the highlights:

• 27,797 requests received, up from 22,590 requests received in FY 2024

• 27,511 requests processed, up from 23,893 in FY2024

• 5393 backlogged requests, up from 5107 at the end of FY 2024.

• For all processed perfected requests, response times of 15 average days for “simple” requests and 1759 average days for “complex” requests.

• 8 requests for expedited process granted and 157 requests denied.

• 204 requests for fee waivers granted and 161 requests denied.

• Zero fees collected for processing requests.

FOIA News: Got Screwed Again?

The deadline for agencies to post their annual reports is less than one week away (3/1/26), and we’re eagerly awaiting the numbers from FOIAs heavy lifters, e.g., DHS, DOJ, DOD, HHS, and NARA. We hope they’ll do better than the General Services Administration with respect to their request backlogs. The key figures are as follows:

• Requests received: 2387, up from 1663 in FY 2024

• Requests processed: 1841, up from 1632 in FY 2024

• Backlogged requests: 945, up from 375 in FY 2024

• For all processed perfected requests, response time of 42 average days for simple requests and 192 average days for complex requests.

• 414 requests for expedited processing received; 64 granted; 350 denied

• 280 fee waiver requests received; 160 granted and 120 denied

• Personnel costs of $2,862,875 versus $43,900 fees collected for processing requests

See more here.

FOIA News: Second volume of Special Counsel Jack Smith report to remain confidential

[FOIA Advisor Note: As Allan and Ryan noted in their commentary on the “Top Cases of 2025,” Judge Canon’s preliminary injunction barring disclosure of volume two of Jack Smith’s special counsel report, which was set to expire tomorrow, has figured prominently in ongoing FOIA cases like American Oversight v. Department of Justice, 779 F. Supp. 3d 40 (D.D.C. 2005), and N.Y. Times v. Department of Justice, No. 25-0562, 2025 WL 2549435 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 4, 2025). Judge Canon’s decision now to enter a permanent injunction will presumably keep volume two secret in perpetuity, although it seems likely that advocates for the report’s release will continue to explore legal channels for compelling disclosure.]

Judge blocks release of special counsel Jack Smith’s report on Trump classified documents case

Alanna Durkin Richer & Eric Tucker, CNN (Feb. 23, 2026)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday permanently barred the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into President Donald Trump’s hoarding of classified documents that led to charges once seen as the most perilous of the four criminal cases the Republican faced.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, granted a request from the president to keep under wraps the report on an investigation alleging Trump stored sensitive documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left the White House following his first term and obstructed government efforts to get them back.

Smith and his team produced a two-volume report on the classified documents investigation and a separate probe into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election after he lost to Joe Biden. Both investigations produced indictments that were abandoned by Smith’s team after Trump’s November 2024 election win in light of longstanding Justice Department legal opinions that say sitting presidents cannot face federal prosecution.

Attorney General Pam Bondi had already determined that the report was “an internal deliberative communication that is privileged and confidential and should not be released” outside the Justice Department, according to court papers. The Trump administration has characterized Smith’s investigation as politically motivated and said in recent court papers that the report belongs in the “dustbin of history.”

Cannon’s order, however, blocking the release also applies to Bondi’s successors at the Justice Department. Cannon, who in 2024 dismissed the case after concluding that Smith was unlawfully appointed after multiple other favorable rulings for Trump, said the release of the report would present a “manifest injustice” to the president and his two co-defendants.

[. . .]

Read the rest here.

FOIA News: A tale of two agencies

On January 26, 2026, we reported that we had found online 14 annual agency FOIA reports for fiscal year 2025, and we posted ten more reports on February 3, 2026.. The following two new reports from the Department of Education and the SEC indicate that FY 2025 was the “worst of times” for the former agency and—by comparison—better times (but not necessarily “the best”) for the latter.

U.S. Dep’t of Education:

• 5266 requests received, up from 4560 in FY 2025; 3916 requests processed, up from 3119 in FY 2024.

• Backlogged requests increased from 2485 to 4570; or 83 percent. Of the 3916 requests that the agency counted as “processed,” 1508 were withdrawn by requesters.

• Backlogged appeals increased from 21 to 29.

• For all processed perfected requests, an average response time of about 171 days for “simple” requests, and an average of about 128 days for “complex” requests.

• Of 375 requests for expedited processing, eight granted.

• Of 1385 requests for a fee waiver, 998 granted.

• $113.04 total amount of fees collected for processing requests.

Securities & Exchange Comm’n:

• 13254 requests received, up from 10,811 in FY 2024; 12,249 requests processed, up from 10,985 in FY 2024

• Backlogged requests increased slightly from 475 to 494; zero backlogged appeals in the past two years.

• For all processed perfected requests, an average response time of about 6 days for “simple” requests, and an average of about 47 days for “complex” requests.

• Of 670 requests for expedited processing, none granted.

• Of 701 requests for a fee waiver, three granted.

• Zero fees collected for processing requests.

FOIA News: Reporters who FOIA the FDA

How Journalists Use FOIA as an Investigative Tool

By John A. Jenkins, Law St. Media, Feb. 11, 2026

* * *

The media requests to the FDA (through December, the most recent month available) span a wide range of subjects – from adverse-event case files and manufacturing inspections to senior officials’ calendars, ethics disclosures, and communications with politically active outside groups.

But the requests also share a common purpose: reconstructing how decisions were made, who influenced them, and whether warning signs were missed or ignored.

The filings reflect how journalists increasingly are turning to FOIA not merely to obtain isolated documents, but to map decision-making ecosystems:  Who raised concerns internally?  When did leadership become aware?  Which outside actors had access?  And how did those dynamics shape regulatory outcomes?  

At the FDA, the most concentrated and consequential set of requests centered on drug safety surveillance and internal deliberations surrounding GLP-1 medications.  

Read more here.

FOIA News: Upcoming FOIA Advisory Committee meetings

The federal Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee for the 2024-2026 term will convene monthly from March to July, according to the Office of Government Information Services’ website. The full Committee last met on September 11, 2025.

• Thursday, March 5, 2026 - 10:00 a.m. ET (Meeting Materials and Information)

• Thursday, April 2, 2026 - 10:00 a.m. ET (Meeting Materials and Information)

• Thursday, May 7, 2026 - 10:00 a.m. ET (Meeting Materials and Information)

• Thursday, June 11, 2026 - 10:00 a.m. ET (Meeting Materials and Information)

• Thursday, July 16, 2026 - 10:00 a.m. ET (Meeting Materials and Information)

FOIA News: FOIA bootcamp at Yale

Annual FOIA Bootcamp Held by MFIA Clinic on Feb. 24

Yale Law School, Feb. 9, 2026

Yale Law School’s Media Freedom and Information Access (MFIA) clinic will host FOIA Bootcamp on Feb. 24, 2026, 6:15–8:00 p.m., in Sterling Law Building Room 129, to explain the ins and outs of filing effective Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. For over a decade, this event has brought together investigative journalists and media law experts to help journalists, activists, students, academics, and others navigate FOIA and access vital public records. 

Investigative reporter Joshua Eaton and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Normand will share their insights on using FOIA as a tool for investigative work and government accountability. The discussion will cover when to file a request, how to draft it effectively, dealing with FOIA officers, and making the system work.

Read more here.