FOIA News: Shutdown slows down FOIA responses

Transparency takes a hit during shutdown

Public records responses and open government websites are anticipated to stall, if not outright stop, during the lapse in funding.

By Kevin Bogardus, Greenwire, Oct. 10, 2025

Federal agencies’ regular online disclosure and routine management of the Freedom of the Information Act are expected to fade as the government shutdown lingers on.

Reviewing and redacting documents takes staff, many of whom are the first to be furloughed during a funding lapse. And as more federal employees get sent home, government websites grow glitchy and public records requests gather dust, creating an increasing pile of work that civil servants will have to slog through when they’re back on the job.

Read more here.

Court opinion issued Oct. 9, 2025

Egana v. U.S. Dep't of Treasury (W.D.N.C.) -- deciding that the Bureau of Fiscal Service performed a reasonable search for records—and found none—related to a $10,000 Series E savings bond allegedly issued in 1964 in plaintiff’s name or under a custodian, claiming entitlement to over $91,000 in value.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2025 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2024 and from 2015 to 2023.

Court opinion issued Oct. 8, 2025

N.Y. Times Co. v. U.S. Def. Counterintelligence & Sec. Agency (S.D.N.Y.) — denying the government’s motion for summary judgment and ordering the release of a “single, two-page document listing any security clearances granted to Elon Musk”; rejecting the agency’s invocation of Exemptions 6 and 7(C); with respect to Exemption 6, concluding that “substantial public interests in disclosure” outweigh Mr. Musk’s valid, albeit “limited,” privacy interests; noting Mr. Musk’s past history of “publicly discuss[ing] his drug use, NASA’s requirement that he submit to random drug testing . . . , and his contacts with foreign leaders”; explaining that the public interest in disclosure is particularly strong for two reasons, namely, (1) “the public has an interest in knowing whether the leader of SpaceX and Starlink holds the appropriate security clearances,” and (2) because “courts have repeatedly recognized a public interest in understanding the thoroughness, fairness, and accuracy of government investigations and operations”; with respect to Exemption 7(C), bypassing the threshold inquiry of whether the record at issue was “compiled for law enforcement purposes,” and holding that the balancing inquiry favors disclosure.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2025 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2024 and from 2015 to 2023.

Court opinion issued Oct. 7, 2025

Dahlstrom v. DHS (D.D.C.) -- granting summary judgment to government after finding that USCIS performed a reasonable search for records about the “T visa” program; rejecting plaintiffs’ arguments that the agency’s search was deficient due to a narrow interpretation of the request, failing to search certain databases, and not using search terms and/or keywords preferred by plaintiffs.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2025 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2024 and from 2015 to 2023.

Court opinion issued Oct. 6, 2025

Ferguson v. DOJ (N.D. Ill.) -- determining that DOJ performed an adequate search for records related to the Prison Rape Elimination Act and the Justice for all Reauthorization Act, and that it properly withheld records under Exemptions 4, 5, and 6; noting that pro se plaintiff failed to follow local rules for filing a summary judgment motion—a deficiency that was itself fatal—but nevertheless proceeding to consider the merits and finding that plaintiff presented no evidence to contradict the government’s showing.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2025 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2024 and from 2015 to 2023.

FOIA News: More on NARA's 2024 records management report

Agencies Increasingly Applying AI in Processing FOIA Requests, Says Report

FEDweek, Oct. 6, 2025

Almost a fifth of federal entities that process FOIA requests are using AI and machine learning, and those “early adopters are demonstrating the ability of AI to identify sensitive information and normalizing the concept of AI in FOIA processing,” says a report.

That is a “notable” number as agencies are looking to apply AI improve efficiency in searching for and retrieving records that may be responsive to FOIA requests, said the report based on responses from some 280 federal entities to a survey earlier this year on their FOIA compliance activities.

Read more here.

Jobs, jobs, jobs: Two peas in a pod

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Def./DLA, GS 9-12, multiple locations, closes 10/6/25 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./USCIS, GS 12, remote, closes 12/31/25 (non-public).

FOIA News: Status of National Archives facilities

Good news for requesters seeking official military or civilian personnel files: NARA’s National Personnel Records Center remains open for business.

Court opinion issued Oct. 1, 2025

Jackson v. HHS (D. Nev.) -- dismissing plaintiff’s claim against the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for lack of standing because plaintiff did not personally submit requests for records about CMS’s investigation of him for Medicaid fraud; instead, the requests were submitted by his private investigator, who never informed CMS that he was acting on plaintiff’s behalf.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2025 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2024 and from 2015 to 2023.

FOIA News: This and that

• The FBI has posted a half-dozen batches of documents concerning its headquarters consolidation project.

• Democratic candidate for NJ Governor blames Republicans for NARA’s FOIA blunder.

• The Government Attic recently posted a 1950 CIA report on Israel.