FOIA Facts
The total cost of FOIA was $416.4 million for the federal 2010 fiscal year.
Of that total, $22.2 million was spent on litigation. Just a little more than 1 percent or $5.9 million of the total cost was recouped in fees in FY2010 (Department of Justice, 2011).
Of the 597,415 requests received during the federal fiscal year of 2010, Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense received the first and second-most FOIA requests, respectfully.
There were three federal agencies that received less than 3,000 requests in FY2010, Department of Commerce, Department of Education, and Department of Energy (Department of Justice, 2011).
Of that total, $22.2 million was spent on litigation. Just a little more than 1 percent or $5.9 million of the total cost was recouped in fees in FY2010 (Department of Justice, 2011).
Of the 597,415 requests received during the federal fiscal year of 2010, Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense received the first and second-most FOIA requests, respectfully.
There were three federal agencies that received less than 3,000 requests in FY2010, Department of Commerce, Department of Education, and Department of Energy (Department of Justice, 2011).
Agencies with most requests FY 2010
Federal Agency
Homeland Security
Department of Defense
Health and Human Services
Department of Justice
Department of State
Homeland Security
Department of Defense
Health and Human Services
Department of Justice
Department of State
Requests
130,098
73,573
63,839
63,682
30,206
130,098
73,573
63,839
63,682
30,206
Agencies with the least requests FY 2010
Department of Commerce
Department of Education
Department of Energy
Department of Education
Department of Energy
2,113
2,114
2,206
2,114
2,206
Agencies with the highest backlog FOIA requests 2010
Department of State
Department of Homeland Security
Departmetn of Health and Human Services
Department of Defense
National Archives and Records Administration
Department of Homeland Security
Departmetn of Health and Human Services
Department of Defense
National Archives and Records Administration
20,519
11, 383
9,552
7,657
7,064
11, 383
9,552
7,657
7,064
(FOIA.gov, 2011 & Department of Justice, 2011)
Limitations on access
FOIA is an access pass to information, but it doesn’t give you everything. Limitations include:
To learn more about other limitations, go to the Exemptions page.
- FOIA does not require officials to talk to you, just to see their data and documents (Washington Coalition for Open Government, 2010).
- Only federal executive agencies are subject to the federal Freedom of Information Act (Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552 and Washington Coalition for Open Government, 2010). The federal courts and Congress follow different guidelines. Each state has FOIA-style laws that are based on the federal statute.
- Other laws impact access under FOIA, including the federal Privacy Act, Family and Educational Rights and Privacy Act, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which impacts individual privacy of government employees, some school records, and medical records. These laws may prevent the release of some government information (Washington Coalition for Open Government, 2010). The FOIA Links page has resources for information on these laws.
To learn more about other limitations, go to the Exemptions page.
