(Photo illustration by Natasha Khan Vicens/PublicSource)
Washington staff cuts have slowed responses to Freedom of Information Act requests, and the agency engineering many reductions is so far escaping normal disclosure rules.
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Moments after PublicSource asked the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for records, citing the Freedom of Information Act [FOIA], a response came in — but not a welcome one.
“Hello, the FOIA office has been placed on admin leave and is unable to respond to any emails,” the April 18 auto-response email indicated.
That request was one of eight submitted by PublicSource in an effort to better understand the impact a new governmental player — the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE — is having on the Pittsburgh region. The effort comes at a time when the public’s stake in federal government decisions and actions is high, but the ability to access records appears to be at a low point.
Federal government documents appear to be even less readily available to citizens, organizations and the press this year than in the recent past, according to three advocates for openness whose organizations regularly work to pry information from public agencies.
DOGE has been especially resistant to transparency. Inspired by billionaire Elon Musk, DOGE has denied requests for documents submitted under FOIA as it has scoured Washington, D.C., in what its leaders have characterized as an effort to save taxpayer money. Access advocates said part of that push has resulted in layoffs to government employees assigned to handle FOIA requests.
“These layoffs in the name of government efficiency and fighting fraud are such a misnomer,” said Gunita Singh, staff attorney with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “Transparency and accountability limit and disincentivize waste, fraud and abuse.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a Thursday request for comment.
DOGE records sought, denied
On June 6, the U.S. Supreme Court extended a pause on a lower court order that would require DOGE to publicly disclose information about its operations, as demanded in a lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington [CREW]. On that same date, the court separately ruled that DOGE can access Americans’ Social Security data.
CREW argues that DOGE is a federal agency and therefore subject to FOIA. President Donald Trump’s administration counters that DOGE is just a presidential advisory body, exempt from requests for documents.
The justices did not finally decide that issue, but the conservative majority held that Judge Christopher Cooper, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled too broadly and too soon in ordering documents be turned over to CREW, putting the matter back in the hands of the lower court.
Transparency advocates are concerned that while groups litigate individual FOIA cases involving DOGE, that organization may be discarding the requested records. The Project on Government Oversight [POGO] has filed suit arguing that DOGE has a legal obligation to preserve all of its documents, said Scott Amey, the group’s general counsel. The nonprofit, nonpartisan POGO has around 100 open FOIA requests before various federal agencies.
There is no contact information on DOGE’s website. PublicSource reached out to the agency via its account on Musk-owned x.com, but has not received a response.
Seeking DOGE documents by other means
PublicSource has not sought documents directly from DOGE, but rather in April sent FOIA requests to eight federal agencies that are subject to FOIA. The requests asked for any documents dated on or after Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration that include the word “Pittsburgh,” or in some cases broader geographies, and reference to DOGE. The effort is based on the possibility that agencies are communicating with DOGE, in documents, about facilities, services or contracts, some of which may be specific to this region.
Will FOIAs reveal DOGE footprints in Pittsburgh?
Here’s a list of requests made by PublicSource under the Freedom of Information Act in an effort to understand Department of Government Efficiency actions that might affect the Pittsburgh area.
As of this writing, two agencies — the Department of Homeland Security and NIOSH — have failed to respond. Two have denied requests. None have provided documents.
Slow responses and denials are becoming more common, said Michael Morisy, CEO of the nonprofit MuckRock Foundation, which works with journalists to surface government documents.
“FOIA staffing and budgets have never kept up with the increasing workloads,” he said. “We’re now seeing FOIA offices being cut completely, particularly at the CDC,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which includes NIOSH.
“FOIA support contracts are being terminated,” said Amey, of POGO. “Sometimes in our litigation, we’re getting responses back from [federal] attorneys saying the process is being slowed down due to ongoing turnover in the agency. I haven’t seen that before.”
Singh said the Reporters Committee has sued for Department of Health and Human Services records, that agency has blamed staff cuts for slow responses, and a judge has said that’s “no excuse.”
Amey said POGO used to often receive documents it sought via FOIA requests without suing. Now, as delays worsen, they’re waiting the 20 business days required in the law and promptly filing suit.
People and organizations without FOIA lawyers may face long waits, rendering the documents they finally receive untimely, he said. “Most people in the media don’t use it anymore.”
MuckRock has been involved in around 150,000 requests for federal and state information over 15 years, Morisy said, and has helped release around 11 million pages of government documents. He agreed that the provision of documents has slowed this year, but said the public should continue to use and test the records law. “Even if they don’t find something, knowing that people are looking encourages agency best practices.”
Singh agreed that would-be requesters of government documents should not be deterred by the current state of FOIA, but rather push for improvements to the system.
“We should be doing the opposite of what’s happening right now and hiring more staff” to address FOIA requests, Singh said. “In times of tumult, anxiety and transition, transparency is more important than ever.”
Rich Lord is the managing editor at PublicSource and can be reached at rich@publicsource.org.
The Associated Press contributed.
This article first appeared on PublicSource and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
