Federal government record requests languish — and not just those aimed at DOGE
Washington staff cuts have slowed responses to Freedom of Information Act requests, and the agency engineering many reductions is so far escaping normal disclosure rules.
By Rich Lord, Public Source, June 17, 2025
“Hello, the FOIA office has been placed on admin leave and is unable to respond to any emails,” the April 18 auto-response email indicated.
That request was one of eight submitted by PublicSource in an effort to better understand the impact a new governmental player — the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE — is having on the Pittsburgh region. The effort comes at a time when the public’s stake in federal government decisions and actions is high, but the ability to access records appears to be at a low point.
Federal government documents appear to be even less readily available to citizens, organizations and the press this year than in the recent past, according to three advocates for openness whose organizations regularly work to pry information from public agencies.
Read more here.