The Freedom of Information Act generally provides that any
person has a right, enforceable in court, of access to federal
agency records, except to the extent that such records (or portions
thereof) are protected from disclosure by one of nine exemptions
or by one of three special law enforcement record exclusions.
- Exemption (b)(1) protects from
disclosure national security information concerning the national
defense or foreign policy, provided that it has been properly
classified in accordance with Executive Order 12958.
- Exemption (b)(2) exempts from
mandatory disclosure records "related solely to the internal
personnel rules and practices of an agency."
- Exemption (b)(3) covers information
"specifically exempted from disclosure by statute."
- Exemption (b)(4) protects
"trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained
from a person that is privileged or confidential."
- Exemption (b)(5) protects "inter-agency
or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available
by law to a party...in litigation with the agency."
- Exemption (b)(6) permits the
government to withhold all information about individuals in
"personnel and medical files and similar files" when the disclosure
of such information "would constitute a clearly unwarranted
invasion of personal privacy."
- Exemption (b)(7)(A) authorizes
the withholding of "records or information compiled for law
enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that production
of such law enforcement records or information...could reasonably
be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings."
- Exemption (b)(7)(B) protects
"records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes
(the disclosure of which) would deprive a person of a right
to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication.
- Exemption (b)(7)(C) provides
protection for personal information in law enforcement records
the disclosure of which "could reasonably be expected to constitute
an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
- Exemption (b)(7)(D) provides
protection for "records or information compiled for law enforcement
purposes which could reasonably be expected to disclose the
identity of a confidential source and information furnished
by a confidential source."
- Exemption (b)(7)(E) provides
protection to all law enforcement information which "would disclose
techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations
or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcements
investigations or prosecutions if such disclosure could reasonably
be expected to risk circumvention of the law."
- Exemption (b)(7)(F) permits
the withholding of information necessary to protect the physical
safety of "any individual" when disclosure of information about
him "could reasonably be expected to endanger his life or physical
safety."
- Exemption (b)(8) protects matter
that are "contained in or related to examination, operating,
or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use
of an agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of
financial institutions."
- Exemption (b)(9) protects "geological
and geophysical information an data, including maps, concerning
wells."
- The (c)(1) exclusion authorizes
federal law enforcement agencies, under specified circumstances,
to shield the very existence of records of ongoing investigations
or proceedings by excluding them entirely from the FOIA's reach.
- The (c)(2) exclusion provides
that "whenever informant records maintained by a criminal law
enforcement agency under an informant's name or personal identifier
are requested by a third party, the agency may treat the records
as not subject to the requirements of the FOIA unless the informant's
status has been officially confirmed.
- The (c)(3) exclusion pertains
only to certain law enforcement records that are maintained
by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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