FOIA requests, denials, backlogs, delays, costs surge in FY 2024
Brechner FOI Project, Apr. 30, 2025
According to new figures out this week from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Information Policy, Freedom of Information Act requests have dramatically surged in the past year, along with denials, backlogs, delays and costs.
The annual FOIA Report for fiscal year 2024, released April 28, indicates that federal agencies saw a 25% increase of requests, from 1.2 million in 2023 to 1.5 million in 2024. As well, backlogged requests increased 33%, from 200,843 to 267,056. That translated into longer response times for simple requests, from an average of 39 days to 44 days.
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