Los Angeles Times, March 16, 2008

Despite President Bush's order for improvements more than two years ago, much of the federal government has barely made a dent in the huge backlog of unanswered requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

An audit by the National Security Archive of 90 government agencies found mixed results from the Dec. 14, 2005, executive order that agencies clear the backlog and be more responsive.

"Behind its ambitious facade . . . the order lacked both carrot and stick," the audit said. The order provided no additional money and no way to force agencies to step up efforts.

Some agencies did well: The Energy Department cut its backlog from 1,162 requests in 2005 to 438 last year. The CIA cut requests more than five years old by 25% in 2006 and by 74% in 2007.

This article is copyrighted material, the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.