The Freedom of Information Act on its 45th anniversary

COMMENTARY | July 01, 2011

Lyndon Johnson opposed FOIA — said it was a plot against his administration — but a tenacious backbencher from California, John Moss, had pursued it for 12 years and LBJ finally relented, signing the legislation on July 4th, 1966. Here Michael Lemov, author of a new book on Moss and FOIA, recounts events leading to the enactment.

By Michael R. Lemov
lemovlaw@verizon.net

July 4th marks the forty-fifth birthday of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Passed by Congress in 1966, and reluctantly signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on the last day before it would have been pocket-vetoed, FOIA has revolutionized public access to government documents and records. It was used last year more than 590,000 times, by news organizations, citizens and businesses. They mostly succeeded in obtaining the government information they sought.

But at age 45 FOIA faces a new world and new challenges. Decades of terrorism have induced government agencies to over-classify millions of alleged national security items as secret. Extensive delays, sometimes for years, may face those requesting information. And the Internet, with its worldwide impact, has given birth to Wikileaks and its fallout, which could threaten the use of the disclosure process established by FOIA and induce more reliance on leaked government data.