FOIA Advisor

FOIA News: State Dep't FOIA work at standstill

FOIA News (2015-2023)Allan BlutsteinComment

State Department FOIA work crippled by virus precautions

By Josh Gerstein, Politico, Mar. 27, 2020

The State Department’s processing of records for public release under the federal government’s best-known transparency law—the Freedom of Information Act—has ground to a virtual halt due to work changes aimed at quelling the coronavirus pandemic, according to an agency official.

State Department official Eric Stein said in a formal court declaration this week that the unusual system the agency relies upon for line-by-line review of requested documents has been hit hard by the shift to telework as a means of reducing the number of people in federal offices

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