News5 Reporter Waits 1 Year for Air Force Academy FOIA

Ha! So STARRS is not the only ones turning old waaaiiittttiiinnnggg for responses to our over 60 FOIAs, the majority with the US Air Force Academy.

This News5 reporter has been waiting one year for a response from USAFA; many of ours have been waiting years. One of them we finally got back was nothing but redacted page after redacting page, not answering our inquiry.

Watch:

News5 Reporter Waits 1 Year for Air Force Academy FOIA – Government Transparency Concerns

Senior Reporter Brett Forrest filed a simple 64-word FOIA request with the U.S. Air Force Academy over a year ago and is still waiting for a response after six deadline extensions. FOIA expert Adam Marshall says each administration has gotten worse at transparency, with increasing delays and redactions becoming the norm. Brett explains the investigative journalism process and why government accountability matters to viewers.

One year and waiting: How long-delayed records request with USAFA signals broader government issues (KOAA News)

One year ago, KOAA filed a 64 word public records request with the Air Force Academy (USAFA), seeking email records between two individuals.

The time frame was limited, and the request seemed simple enough. It was unknown what, if anything, the records would yield for reporting purposes. The idea to file a request was born out of curiosity when covering a separate report.

One year ago, KOAA filed a 64 word public records request with the Air Force Academy (USAFA), seeking email records between two individuals.

For journalists, FOIA allows newsrooms to do the following:

conduct investigations
confirm news tips
verify facts
share what the government is doing with taxpayer money
“FOIAs can show waste, fraud, and abuse, which can be really important for government reform efforts, but they can also show really everyday things like how are benefits being distributed,” said Adam Marshall, senior staff attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “It is absolutely fundamental to democracy. If people are going to take part in the democratic process, they have to know what the government is doing or not doing, and FOIA plays a crucial role in that. FOIA helps people understand what they might need to contact their representative about.”

The KOAA FOIA request with the Air Force Academy isn’t necessarily unheard of. Marshall said last fiscal year, the oldest FOIA request had been pending for a little over 12 years.

The law does require agencies to respond and provide a substantive determination within 20 working days, but agencies are able to extend and roll the deadlines indefinitely, Marshall said.

Government agencies often redact information to allow partial release of records, which adds to the lengthy response time. The government can deny a FOIA under certain circumstances.

According to the FOIA.gov website, “agencies should withhold information only if they reasonably foresee that disclosure would harm an interest protected by an exemption, or if disclosure is prohibited by law.”

Records requests with agencies within the Department of Defense, Department of Justice, and Department of Homeland seem to take longer due to more requests and backlogs, said Marshall.

According to the 2024 Annual FOIA Report Summary, the federal government received a record high 1.5 million FOIA requests last fiscal year, which was a 25% increase from Fiscal Year 2023.

The Office of Information Policy last month issued guidance for federal agencies to develop plans to reduce their backlogs, but as Marshall notes, the FOIA backlogs keep growing each presidential administration.

“By and large, every administration has been worse than the previous one when it comes to FOIA,” said Marshall. “The delays have by and large continued to go up. The redactions have by and large continued to go up. And the current administration is no exception to that trend.”

This KOAA reporter has ongoing FOIA requests with multiple agencies filed within the past year. The Air Force Academy request is the longest duration thus far, but others have also taken several months, including with the Department of the Air Force and the Department of the Interior.

If and when the records are released, there might not be a single item of interest for the general public. The records could be redacted beyond measure. Or, there could be an interesting report to pursue.

Until the backlogs are addressed and the records are released, it’s impossible to know.

First published on KOAA News