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威尼斯人娱乐场 Exclusive: Press Opportunity to Photo and Video Original FOIA in Advance of 50th Anniversary
Media Alert 路 Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Washington, DC

ATTN: Photo Editors/Assignment Editors

FOIA Act 50th Anniversary is July 4, 2016

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PLEASE NOTE: NO ARTIFICIAL LIGHT MAY BE USED ON THE DOCUMENT.

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Today, public access to information about the government is considered a fundamental right. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is the law that makes that access happen. Recognizing that the records of a democratic government belong to the people, the United States became one of the first nations to open its records to the public on July 4, 1966, when Congress passed the Freedom of Information Act.

Under the FOIA anyone can request access to most Executive Branch records. Federal agencies are also required to proactively release certain records. Disclosure of some or all of the information in a document can be prohibited, however, if it falls within a series of nine exemptions that protect, among other things, national security, privacy, and trade secrets.

The Federal FOIA Ombudsman's Office, known as the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), was created within the 威尼斯人娱乐场 in 2007. Under the law, OGIS is required to provide mediation services to resolve FOIA disputes, review agency compliance with FOIA, and make recommendations to improve the FOIA process.

In the 50 years since the FOIA鈥檚 passage, amendments to the original law continue to increase public access to paper and electronic documents that illustrate the workings of the government. Use of the FOIA has also increased dramatically since its passage. In the first five years of the law the government received 535 FOIA requests; in 2015, it received more than 713,168 requests.

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For press information contact the 威尼斯人娱乐场 Public Affairs staff at 202-357-5300.

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