About the Public Records Act
Freedom of Information Laws
People ask me all the time about the public records act and what rights American citizens have to view public information. The Freedom of Information Act gives U.S. citizens the right to request and given access to much public record information at the federal level of government.
Besides the Public Records Act, state and local laws give the public the right to view a great deal of the government records. The idea of the “freedom of information” is to make American governance transparent, to let the citizenry know what is being done in our name. This is the whole “government of the people, by the people, for the people” part of our system.
Of course, not every piece of information held by the government is for public consumption. There is plenty of information kept off the record, for both legitimate and not-so-legitimate reasons. Much information is kept off the public record for national defense or national security reasons. Still, watchdog groups have been known to take the federal government to court to open documents under the Freedom of Information Act.
Here’s the history of the public records act and how to access government files under the freedom of information laws.
Freedom of Information Act of 1966
Because of a growing suspicion of government motives on the part of the American people during the Sixties, a wide number of Americans began to campaign for a public information act that would allow the voters of this country to learn what secrets the government kept.
Public Records in the Cold War
Cold War politics had led to the establishment of the CIA and the building of the Pentagon, because the U.S. had a growing role in the world, largely protecting the “free world” or the “western nations” from communist aggression in the wake of World War II. The CIA and the Defense Department felt the need for growing secrecy and their wishes were largely regarded, especially after the spy cases that led the Soviet Union to building their version of the atom bomb in the late 1940s.
By the 1960s, the defense and intelligence establishment of America had been keeping secrets about weapons, secret projects and espionage for 15 years. After the JFK Assassination, many Americans began to suspect that elements of the U.S. government had taken part in assassinating a U.S. president. With the growing conflict in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, even more Americans began to suspect that their federal government wasn’t telling the whole truth. In this climate of suspicion about the central government, the Freedom of Information Act of 1966 was passed.
Freedom of Information and the American Press
Individual citizens can file requests under the Freedom of Information Act (or FOIA) to see public documents. Usually, though, it is journalists and authors who make the most FOIA requests. The U.S. media plays the role of watchdog for the American people, which is one reason why most American presidential administrations (whether Republican or Democrat) tend to have an adversarial attitude towards the press corps.
How To File a Freedom of Information Act Request
You can either file a written FOIA request or make a verbal request for Freedom of Information documents to any governmental agency. Most agencies ask for written requests, though, and you probably want a written documented request, anyway. When you make your request, it’s best to cite the actual wording of the law, since this shows the government official who sees your request that you know your rights.
In this way, if you make a request of a federal agency, cite the Freedom of Information Act. If you make a request of a state authority, cite the relevant state legislation which applies. Most city and county records only require you to go to the county courthouse and ask for the proper county clerk you want access to the local public records.
Since the law requires an agency to respond in a certain time frame, always date your requests. FOIA requests are best for government budget information, database access and email files. That’s because these records generally are not made available, unless you request them. Many other public records you can find without a request. In fact, some public records can be found online, available to anyone who wants to search the Internet. This is especially true of county records and other local government files.
Copying Public Records
Generally speaking, the government cannot bar you from copying public records for your own use later. Agencies can ask you to pay a nominal, reasonable fee for copies to be made. Be prepared to pay a fee if you ask for a copy of public records you view. You generally will not have to pay, simply to view public records, though.
About the Public Records Act
The public records act is an important part of your rights as a citizen. The government has no right to keep secrets from you as an American citizen, unless those secrets protect the safety and security of other American citizens, or the American public. The divide between liberty and security is always going to be a fine line. The government is sometimes going to claim it needs to keep secrets, to keep you and your fellow Americans safe. Sometimes that might seem like a reasonable stance.
But sometimes, you might find that the government is wanting to keep secrets from the public for no good reason. In that case, it’s nice to know about the public records act and be able to cite the freedom of information laws to defend your rights as a u.S. citizen to see what the government is up to.
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This entry was posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 5:19 pm and is filed under Public Records. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Damn, cool website. I actually came across this on Bing, and I am happy I did. I will definately be returning here more often. Wish I could add to the conversation and bring a bit more to the table, but am just absorbing as much info as I can at the moment.
Thank You