CNN reported Tuesday that it had used the Freedom of Information Act to ask the Office of Personnel Management for records related to the security clearances for billionaire Elon Musk and the staff of the Department of Government Efficiency. An OPM email responded, “Good luck with that” — the staff responsible for responding to FOIA requests at OPM had been fired.
“Anytime that whole FOIA offices are getting fired, it portends terrible things,” said Washington Post FOIA director Nate Jones.
“Typically speaking, FOIA offices and FOIA officers are not considered essential employees,” Harper said, citing the furloughing of many FOIA employees in past government shutdowns.
CNN’s story about the firings noted that the decision to terminate OPM’s public records officers and communications staff mirrored the firing of Twitter’s media relations team when Musk took over the social media company in 2022. For months, press inquiries to Twitter, now known as X, received an automated reply of a poop emoji.
In the face of a FOIA request denial or nonresponse, journalists have a few options outside of litigation, experts said. One is to file a request with another entity that has access to the same information. Sumar said that he advises reporters to file requests with smaller agencies if they can since those agencies tend to receive fewer requests and are thus quicker to respond. State agencies, which adhere to state public records laws, are another option.
Journalists can also make it clear to their audience that the government is withholding information, just as CNN did in its reporting on OPM, Jones said. At the Post, Jones writes a column reporting on the paper’s quests for public records.
Basically, if the government decides not to provide the information (and presumably they’ve been continuing to fire FOIA employees), journalists just have to rely on public outcry compelling the government to comply.
I’m sure this government will really listen to the people. They seem so reasonable to date.