FOI in the USA - useful resources

FOI in the USA - useful resources

The US Freedom of Information Act was passed in 1966 and allows anyone, US citizen or not, to obtain information from a federal department or agency.

This article provides many useful links to US FOI resources, including:

• The Reporters' Committee for the Freedom of the Press handbook which describes how to use the Federal FOI Act as an effective investigative tool, and provides sample letters, forms and directories to assist people in dealing with the government promptly and effectively.
  
• The American Civil Liberties Union which publishes an online guide to making FOIA requests (it has assisted many recent FOI releases from the FBI regarding torture tactics used in Guantanamo)
  
• The Coalition of Journalists for Open Government
  
• Links to online databases of publicly available information

In the land of the free (The Guardian, 11 January 2005)