About FOIA
The FOIA gives any person the right to request access to records of the Executive
Branch of the United States Government. The records requested must be disclosed
unless they are protected by one or more of the exempt categories of information
found in the FOIA. Records that, generally, may be protected from disclosure
are: Properly classified material; limited kinds of purely internal matters;
matters exempt from disclosure by other statutes; trade secrets or commercial
or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential;
internal agency communications that represent the deliberative, pre- decisional
process, attorney work product, or attorney-client records; information that
would be a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy; law enforcement
records to the extent that one of six specific harms could result from disclosure;
bank examination records; and oil well and similar information.
Notwithstanding the above protections, the FOIA requires Federal agencies to
provide the fullest possible disclosure of information to the public. Administrative
and judicial remedies are available to those persons denied access to records.
Last Updated:
December 23, 2005
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