Background 

 The Freedom of Information Act was created in 1955 by Democratic congressman John Moss and was later passed in1966. FOIA law gives people the freedom to have access of full or partial information and documents held by the United States government upon request.

FOIA only happens to apply to federal agencies and request categories include commercial, education, scientific,  representative of the news media and non-commercial. For citizens request can be made via email or phone call and has a 20 day window to be granted or denied. 

Exemptions

 

But unfortunatelynot every request is going to be granted because there are nine exemptions. 

1. National defense of foreign policy: matters are disclosed and are authorized by executive order to b kept secret 
2. Internal personal rules and practices:
3. Information that is prohibited from disclosure by another federal law
4. Trade secrets and commercial or financial information- disclosure financial and trade secrets 
5. Inter or intra agency memoranda- applies to civil discovery including documents protect to deliberate process 
6. Personal medical and similar files- invasion to privacy 
7. Enforcement records or information- 
8. Financial institutions reports- financial reports 
9. Geological and geophysical information and data concerning well

Process

Court appeals happen when an agency must inform the requester that they want to withhold documents. 

Personal View

I can believe FOIA gives U.S. citizens the opportunity to find out federal information they’re curious about. It’s given citizens the power to go behind the scenes to really figure out what’s going on and to figure out more closely what battles need to be fought.