Limitations of
FOIA
FOIA unlocks only federal executive agency files: Congress, the judiciary,
and state and local agenciesare not covered by the law. However, many
states have passed their own freedom of information laws, for instance, the
Freedom of Information Act of Illinois (Ill. Rev. Stat. ch. 116, sec.
201 et seq.). FOIA pertains to agency files, not to published docuements.
Access to published documents is through depository
libraries, the Government
Printing Office, the National Technical
Information Service, and other sources. Since FOIA focuses on active
records still in agency files, many historical records have been
transferred to the National
Archives, where they may be accessed without invoking FOIA.
FOIA Reading Rooms
Many agencies have created FOIA Reading Rooms on the Internet where
the public can search for and read declassified government documents. Many
of the document are in Adobe Acrobat format (to read them, you may need to download Adobe Acrobat.)
Below are links to online FOIA reading rooms of interest for health policy:
