FOIA News: More coverage on indictment of David Morens

• Statement of House Oversight Chairman James Comer, 4/28/26

• Post, Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul), X, 4/28/26

• Grand Jury Indicts Former N.I.H. Official, NY Times, 4/28/26

• Former Health Official Charged With Concealing Emails About Covid-19 Grants, Wall St. J., 4/28/26

• Former Fauci aide charged with conspiring to evade Covid-related records requests, Politico, 4/28/26

• Trump admin revives COVID origins debate with indictment, Axios, 4/28/26

• Anthony Fauci adviser indicted by DOJ on charges of concealing COVID records, NY Post

• Former Fauci aide charged in alleged effort to thwart inquiries into pandemic, Wash. Post

• Who Is David Morens? Ex-Fauci Adviser Indicted Over Secret COVID Records, Newsweek, 4/28/26

FOIA News: New "FOIA Hiring Toolkit"

New FOIA Hiring Toolkit from Chief FOIA Officers Council Committee on Cross-Agency Collaboration and Innovation Available on FOIA.gov

Dep’t of Justice, Office of Info. Pol’y, FOIA Post (Apr. 28, 2026)

A new hiring toolkit issued by the FOIA Hiring Toolkit Working Group of the Chief FOIA Officer (CFO) Council Committee on Cross-Agency Collaboration and Innovation (COCACI) has been published on FOIA.gov.  The hiring toolkit provides sample KSAs, interview questions, scoring methods, position descriptions, and more.  All documents are available for download on FOIA.gov.

Agency FOIA professionals, FOIA leadership, and GIS career professionals are encouraged to review the toolkit.  For additional information about the CFO Council’s work, visit the Council page on FOIA.gov.  For additional information on COCACI, please review  COCACI’s FOIA.gov page. 

Read the original post here.

FOIA News: FOIA litigation webinar

On June 30, 2026, the Federal Bar Association will host a one-hour webinar entitled “Navigating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in Federal District Courts. The presentation will be led by Mark Zaid. See more details here.

Jobs, jobs, jobs: Four your eyes only

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 12, New Orleans, LA, closes 5/1/26 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 12, Fairfield, CA, closes 5/5/26 (internal to agency).

FOIA Attorney-Adviser, Sec. & Exch. Comm’n, SK 14, Wash., DC, closes 5/8/26 (public).

Lead Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of State, GS 14, Wash., DC, closes 5/8/26 (non-public).

Court opinions issued Apr. 23, 2026

Block Club Chi. v. DHS (D.D.C.) -- ruling that that ICE properly relied on Exemption 7(C) to redact detainee names, case numbers, home addresses, and birth dates from spreadsheet records showing arrests and detentions involving ICE personnel in the Chicago region from January 21 to January 30, 2025; rejecting plaintiff’s argument that a public interest in verifying the agency’s claims regarding the "targeted" nature of the operations or the criminal status of detainees outweighed the substantial privacy interests.

Hester v. IRS (D. N.J.) (unpublished) -- denying in large part plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration of the Court’s prior order denying a TRO and preliminary injunction, finding plaintiff failed to show the IRS was destroying or likely to destroy FOIA-requested records and failed to justify expedited processing of FOIA requests tied to Tax Court disputes.

Summaries of published opinions issued in 2026 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2025, 2024, and from 2015 to 2023.

FOIA News: The sky is falling!

By Shifra Dayak, NOTUS, Apr. 27, 2026

These days, the life cycle of a Freedom of Information Act request goes something like this: submit the request, wait and watch the 20-business-day deadline for an agency to respond pass. Wait some more, and more, and then some more.

Sometimes, a FOIA officer sends a clarifying question. Either nothing more comes of it, or the released records are rife with redactions. Attempts to appeal result in more delays, leaving one more option: to sue.

Legally public information from the government is becoming harder to access. The Department of Energy reported 2,277 backlogged FOIA requests — or requests that are still open past the legally required response time — at the end of fiscal year 2025; by comparison, the agency reported 1,629 backlogged requests at the end of fiscal year 2024.

The Department of Defense reported a 20% increase in pending requests and a 42% increase in backlogged requests between the end of fiscal years 2024 and 2025. The State Department’s backlog, meanwhile, grew from more than 21,000 requests at the end of fiscal year 2024 to more than 27,000 requests at the end of fiscal year 2025.

A dozen experts, ranging from former federal employees who worked in FOIA offices to lawyers that litigate FOIA cases, told NOTUS that the Trump administration is categorically worse at complying with the transparency law.

Read more here.

FOIA News: OPEXUS under further scrutiny

Last week we reported that federal contractor OPEXUS was facing a class action lawsuit in connection with a 2025 data breach by two former employees. We recently learned that the United States Senate is investigating the breach, specifically through a request for information from Senate HELP Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy seeking details on the company’s cybersecurity practices and safeguards. See more here.

Job, jobs, jobs: Hold or fold this pair?

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 11-12, Marion, IL, closes 4/27/26 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Nat’l Sci. Found., GS 14, Alexandria, VA, closes 4/28/26 (non-public).

Court opinion issued Apr. 22, 2026

Innovation Law Lab v. ICE (D. Or.) -- denying agency’s motion to stay case during funding lapse where plaintiff sought records on ICE’s detention placement and transfer policies; rejecting agency’s argument that furlough-related constraints and the Anti-Deficiency Act prevented agency from litigating the case, and finding that ICE failed to justify an indefinite delay in light of FOIA’s strong interest in prompt disclosure and the ongoing impact on detainees.

Summaries of published opinions issued in 2026 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2025, 2024, and from 2015 to 2023.

FOIA News: HHS posts annual report for FY 2025

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services posted its FY 2025 annual report yesterday, more than seven weeks after March 1st deadline. Here are the highlights (and lowlights):

• Requests received: 55.006, up from 49,053 in FY 2024.

• Requests processed: 47,489, up from 46,923 in FY 2024.

• Backlogged requests increased from 11,149 to 18,360.

• 49.72 average days to process “simple perfected requests; 198.91 average days for “complex” requests; and 315.73 average days for expedited requests.

• Requests for fee waivers: 2441 granted and 312 denied.

• Requests for expedited processing: 125 granted and 1415 denied.

• Total processing costs: $56.2 million, down from $80.2 million in FY 2024.

  Fees collected from requesters: $656,731, down from $752,786 in FY 2024.

For more comparisons, see HHS’s FY 2024 report here.