Though the list of exceptions to the law is short, the exceptions themselves -- on grounds of national security, foreign policy, unwarranted invasion of privacy, and the like -- are broad enough to cause long delays.
Furthermore, the law appropriates no special funding for the agencies that do deal with FOIA requests, even though it has been estimated that they cost the agencies involved about US$80 million a year.
Journalistic treasures
Just as it does not reward compliance, the law provides no penalties for non-compliance. The law sounds like a godsend to journalists, watchdog groups and the ordinary people, but in fact the vast majority of the estimated 600,000 FOIA requests each year are submitted by corporations trawling for trade secrets or involved in contract disputes with each other.
FOIA has yielded some small journalistic treasures -- most recently, documents obtained under FOIA by the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) in Washington were instrumental in raising questions about the financial probity of Tony Coelho, chairman of vice-president Al Gore's presidential campaign. But FOIA has been a bit-player in the great dramas that have rocked US presidencies in recent decades.
FOIA is too slow for most journalistic endeavors. Its chief journalistic value is that it exists, as Charles Lewis of CPI points out. The mere threat of a FOIA request can open government filing cabinets. More crucially, however hobbled FOIA is in practice, the principle behind it is at least enshrined in US law. Government officials complain endlessly about how FOIA ties up staff time. It certainly can become a bureaucratic nightmare. But better that than a nightmare bureaucracy.
Stryker McGuire is Newsweek's London bureau chief.
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