# 10 Freedom of Information Act

 Freedom of Information Act

    What is the Freedom of Information Act? Well, let's find out. According to FOIA.gov, The Freedom of Information Act "provided the public the right to request access to records from any federal agency. It is often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about their government. Federal agencies are required to disclose any information requested under the FOIA unless it falls under one of the nine exemptions which protect interests such as personal privacy, national security, and law enforcement."

    The Freedom of Information Act was signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966. President Johnson stated in his official statement, "This legislation springs from one of our most essential principles: a democracy works best when the people have all the information that the security of the nation permits." This statement has a lot of truth to it because the more the people know and the more access you let the people have to information that the govenermnet holds then the more unified we can be as a whole. I feel like the saying "secrets don't make friends" fits well with this topic. FOIA was put into place in order to keep the government accountable. Since this law was signed, a lot of misconduct and information such as threats held by the government have been released. 

    For example, there have been lots of situations where people find out information about companies just by filing a FOIA. in 1980, several activists found out about paper mills releasing toxic waste into rivers. This information was being hidden by the Environmental Protection Agency. 

    Another example is after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, there was a request to see where the recovery money was being spent. This request showed that the government was wasting the money that had been raised to help with the cleanup from Katrina. 

    One more example is from 2016 when a FOIA request showed that an American supplier for parmesan cheese had wood pulp in their products instead of the actual parmesan cheese. 

    The Freedom of Information Act allows people to have a little bit of control and allows citizens to stay in the loop with their government. The FOIA allows people to ask questions and request information about certain records so that we can make sure for ourselves that everything is running like we are told. The less secrets that are kept and the more information we have access to, the less people have to question what is going on around the world.