Problems With the Freedom of Information Act

The problems that the Freedom of Information Act creates for law enforcement agencies become especially acute when organized crime uses the act to discover what the Government knows about it.

Organized criminal groups engage in a wide range of illegal activities and often have a long institutional memory. As a consequence, otherwise innocuous information that the Government discloses under the Freedom of Information Act to a member of an organized crime family or a drug trafficking conspiracy can often be pieced together with information already known to the requester to form a mosaic that reveals the identities of the Government's confidential informants or the scope of the Government's investigation.

There was one fairly famous example of the Monsanto Co. having an entire secret formula released inadvertently, I believe, by one Government agency. I think this is a minimal reform which is long overdue.

The Freedom of Information Act's unrealistic time limits have also caused serious problems for the Government and Freedom of Information Act requesters alike. The short 10day time limit imposed upon agencies responding to and processing requests often forces agencies to respond prematurely or hurriedly.

Freedom of Information Act requesters, too, are dissatisfied with the present time limitations which prevent agencies from meeting statutory deadlines and occasionally have caused needless litigation.

Moreover, the first in, first out system established by the Freedom of Information Act requires agencies to place even small requests at the end of the agency backlog, preventing them from acting quickly even in cases where a timely response is necessary.

The news media wants its sources protected. It wants them protected in the interests of being able to follow good reporting practices and in the interests of furthering public understanding through dissemination of information. The media comprehends that its sources will not continue to cooperate if their confidential identities are not protected.

I do not think it is unreasonable for law enforcement officers to want to protect their confidential informants for the same reason, especially when our law enforcement officers know that their informants are going to be endangered if they are not protected. However, our law enforcement people may be endangered in the process because many of them are doing very dangerous undercover work. The disclosure of even a tiny piece of information that would fit into a larger mosaic to reveal the identities of these informants could be very deleterious.

Sammy is constantly researching interesting information and writing articles to make it easy for his readers to understand.

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