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Article: FOIA (Freedom of Information Act)
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, andSecurity
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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FOIA (Freedom of Information Act)
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) limits the ability of United States federal government agencies to withhold
information from the public by classifying that information as secret. Passed by Congress in 1967, it applies to the agencies of the executive branch, and not to the legislative or judicial branches, or to state or local governments, although every state has its own privacy and public access laws. FOIA did not become a significant aspect of American public life until the early to mid-1970s, when several events, including the Watergate scandal, the passage of the Privacy Act in 1974, and amendments in 1975, helped give it much greater ...