The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. (Photo by: Robin Hamilton/Full Sail University).

Some federal agencies require certain public records be released under an approved Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The Freedom of Information Act is a “law that gives you the right to access information from the Federal government. It is often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about their government.”Although the act provides a “right to access,” access is not always readily granted. Jason Leopold, an investigative journalist sued the FBI, CIA, and DOJ alleging they were in violation of FOIA. Leopold claimed he waited over a year to obtain documentation needed to support his investigative reporting. He believes the long wait could be due to the tremendous amount of requests that come in regularly causing a huge backlog.

In 2007 and amendment was made to the Act allowing those making requests an opportunity to inquire about a completion date for his or her FOIA request. The amendment states: Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(7)(B), “Each agency shall … establish a phone line or Internet service that provides information about the status of a request to the person making the request …, including … an estimated date on which the agency will complete action on the request.” Whether or not prompt responses are granted is open for debate.

Social Security Administration building. (Photo by: Robin Hamilton/Full Sail University).

In spite of a so-called backlog, the Social Security Administration does attempt to address the requests in a timely manner. According to the SSA web site, the agency tries “to handle your request within 20 days from the date we receive it. Sometimes it may take us longer depending on the difficulty of finding the record and how much other work we have. We process requests on a “first in, first out’ basis using the following three categories: normal, longer, longest.”

Kimberly Seymore, a former FOIA request attorney for the Chicago Housing Authority, stated that, “Those requesting information under The Freedom of Information Act have usually thoroughly researched the law for the requests being made.” Seymore added, “Most requests are honored unless there is a substantial basis for denying the request such as security reasons.”

There is no main or home office that handles these requests. Each individual agency will prepare records according to the FOIA requests.

U.S. White House Dome. (Photo by: Robin Hamilton/Full Sail University).