FOIA Assistance

Scope: This guide covers requests to U.S. federal executive-branch agencies under the federal Freedom of Information Act. It is general research information, not legal advice. State, local, legislative, judicial, and foreign access laws use different rules. Agency regulations and the instructions in your determination letter control when a right or deadline matters.

Before filing: search and map the record

Begin at FOIA.gov, the agency’s website, its electronic reading room, and the National Archives Catalog. Search the program name, older names, office, document number, date, likely author, and distinctive phrases. An existing release may answer the question or reveal the exact component and file series needed for a narrower request. The site’s Primary Sources guide lists UAP-related repositories and shows what citation details to preserve.

FOIA.gov emphasizes that each federal agency handles its own records. Identify who likely created or controls the record, not simply which agency is prominent in current news. Historical Project Blue Book files, for example, are described by the National Archives; current Department of Defense program records may belong to a DoD component; aviation reports may be held by the Federal Aviation Administration; and FBI investigative records belong with the FBI. One subject can require separate, nonduplicative requests to different components.

Request existing records, not an explanation

Federal FOIA provides access to agency records that are reasonably described and not properly withheld. It generally does not require an agency to answer questions, conduct research, create a new report, or prove a theory. Replace “Why did the agency hide this incident?” with a description such as “final memoranda, briefing slides, and correspondence sent by the named office during the stated dates concerning the identified incident.” Use the Glossary to check program names and terms, but follow the vocabulary found in official records.

Anatomy of a workable request

• Recipient: Name the agency and component shown in its current FOIA instructions.
• Record types: Identify emails, memoranda, reports, logs, photographs, contracts, case files, calendars, briefing slides, or a defined database export.
• Subject and scope: Give a program, event, case number, office, or other objective boundary.
• Date range: Use a practical start and end date tied to the event or decision.
• Custodians or systems: Name them only when there is a factual basis.
• Search terms: Include known aliases and say whether terms must appear together.
• Format: Request electronic delivery and a preferred form or native format when metadata matters, while recognizing that the agency must be able to reproduce the record in that form.
• Fees: State a maximum you will pay without further approval, and separately justify any fee category or waiver request.
• Contact details: Provide what the agency’s regulation requires and a practical way to discuss scope.

Fees and expedited processing

There is no universal promise of free processing. Fee categories, search and duplication charges, waiver standards, and advance-payment rules appear in each agency’s regulations. A fee waiver generally requires a supported public-interest showing; inability to pay by itself is not the federal standard. Ask the agency to contact you before costs exceed a stated amount, but read its rules because search fees may sometimes be charged even when no responsive record is found.

Expedited processing is exceptional, not a way to mark an ordinary request urgent. Federal law and agency regulations define qualifying circumstances, and the requester must support the basis claimed. The statute calls for a decision on the expedition request within ten calendar days, but granting expedition means processing as soon as practicable, not delivery by a guaranteed date. Check the receiving agency’s current regulation before relying on any timing rule.

Sample request 1: a defined briefing record

Example only – adapt to the correct component and regulation.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, I request electronic copies of final briefing slides and final briefing memoranda created by [office/component] between [start date] and [end date] concerning [named event, case number, or program]. Please search the office files or record system most likely to contain those final materials. This request excludes drafts and duplicate copies. I prefer searchable PDF for final documents and native electronic format for any responsive spreadsheet. If estimated fees will exceed $[amount], please contact me before incurring additional cost. If any portion is withheld, please release all reasonably segregable nonexempt material and identify the exemption applied.

Sample request 2: correspondence around a specific release

Example only – avoid private personal data unless necessary and lawful.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, I request electronic copies of emails sent or received by [identified office or factually supported custodian] from [start date] through [end date] that contain both “[exact release title or document number]” and “[second narrow term].” Please include nonduplicate attachments. I request native format for email and attachments where readily reproducible, or searchable PDF with message headers preserved. Please exclude newsletters, press clippings, and messages sent only to public distribution lists. If the estimated fee exceeds $[amount], contact me before proceeding. If records are withheld in whole or part, please release reasonably segregable material and state the exemption used.

Name a custodian only when there is a factual connection to the records. Narrow terms can reduce irrelevant private information.

Privacy, safety, and sensitive material

A request for records about yourself or another individual may trigger identity, consent, Privacy Act, or agency-specific requirements. Do not publish unredacted personal contact details, medical information, credentials, or sensitive identifiers obtained in a release. Do not send classified information or material you are not authorized to possess. FOIA is not an emergency reporting channel, a secure whistleblower channel, or a substitute for legal advice. When legal, employment, clearance, or personal-safety consequences are possible, consult qualified counsel or an appropriate support organization.

Track the administrative record

Save the exact request, submission receipt, tracking number, acknowledgment, scope changes, search-term agreements, fee correspondence, status messages, interim releases, and final determination. Record phone calls with a dated summary. These materials show what the agency agreed to search and preserve the basis for any appeal. A “no records” response means the described search did not locate responsive agency records; it does not prove that no related record exists in another component, archive, system, or jurisdiction.

Response timing, exemptions, and segregability

The federal statute generally gives an agency twenty working days after a perfected request reaches the proper component to make a determination, subject to statutory tolling and unusual-circumstances provisions. That is not a guarantee that every record will be produced within twenty working days; complex searches, consultations, backlogs, fees, and scope questions can affect processing. Use the agency’s status route and FOIA Public Liaison rather than assuming silence establishes the requested claim.

FOIA contains nine exemptions protecting categories such as properly classified national-security information, personal privacy, certain law-enforcement interests, privileged communications, and protected commercial information. An exemption may justify withholding some information without justifying withholding an entire record. Federal law requires release of reasonably segregable nonexempt portions, so ask the agency to identify the exemption and release the remainder when possible.

Appeals, Public Liaisons, and OGIS

An adverse determination can include a full or partial withholding, an inadequate-description decision, a “no records” or cannot-locate result, and some fee, waiver, expedition, or format decisions. Read the determination letter immediately. Federal regulations must allow at least ninety days to file an administrative appeal, but the actual route and stated deadline are agency-specific. An appeal should identify the request and response, state the issue precisely, attach the relevant correspondence, and explain the requested remedy.

Before or alongside the appropriate administrative step, the agency’s FOIA professional or Public Liaison may help clarify scope, search, status, or delay. The Office of Government Information Services at the National Archives provides neutral dispute-resolution assistance. OGIS does not compel release, replace an administrative appeal, stop an appeal deadline, or provide legal representation. Preserve your agency appeal rights while seeking informal help.

Use the released record responsibly

Check every page, attachment, redaction marking, date, and file number. Distinguish the date a record was created from the date it was released. An official file can preserve an allegation without validating it, and a partial release can omit context. The site’s Sources and Methodology explains how to label those limits. To suggest a source or correction for this archive, use the Contact page and do not send sensitive or unauthorized material.