Vol. 10 No. 2 (February 2000) pp. 106-107.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AND THE RIGHT TO KNOW: THE ORIGINS AND APPLICATIONS OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT
by Herbert N. Foerstel. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. 232 pp. Cloth $59.95.
Reviewed by Lawrence E. Rothstein, Department of Political Science, University of Rhode Island.
Herbert Foerstel, former head of Branch Libraries at the University of Maryland, board member of the National Security
Archive and author of several books on information access, is clearly knowledgeable on information issues. His
experiences have led him to be a strong advocate for freer access to the information in the hands of government.
The book is written from this point of view, drawing on several informal interviews with leaders of organizations
seeking greater access to government records.
The first section of the book begins with a very sketchy history of the law regarding government openness and access
to government information, emphasizing those materials that might support a constitutional right to know. The
story moves from there to a brief legislative history of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and its amendments.
Foerstel greatly credits the persistence of Representative Moss and his subcommittee with the development and
passage of the FOIA. The second section of the book, while stressing the general resistance of government to the
Act and to the prompt fulfillment of information requests, begins with a treatment of the most responsive agencies,
Health and Human Services (particularly the FDA), the Department of Defense, and the Department of Justice. Foerstel
emphasizes
the important roles of freedom of information professionals in these agencies in consistently working with requesters
to provide information as quickly and comprehensively as possible.
By looking at the performance of the "best practice" agencies first, he provides maximum contrast with
the recalcitrance of the least responsive agencies, not surprisingly the FBI, the CIA and the National Security
Agency. According to Foerstel, officials in these agencies believe that their files should have a blanket exemption
from the FOIA. In addition, he stresses the constant narrowing of the act by court decisions that tend to agree
that law enforcement and national security agency files should be exempt. He gives special recognition to Reagan
administration policies resistant to expanding access to information. A significant part of the problem, Foerstel
admits, is also the low priority and lack of resources allocated to FOI in most government agencies.
In a section on effective use of the FOIA, Foerstel notes that news organizations have largely given up on the
Act because of the tardiness of responses. Congress, although occasionally resorting to the Act, primarily pursues
its information requests by other means. Private individuals tend not to have the knowledge, the resources and
the perseverance to make much use of the Act. In fact, the
Page 107 begins here
preponderance of requests comes from corporations seeking information about their competitors. The remainder of
this section contains brief summaries of the activities of public interest organizations that have as a major function
improving access to, and the collection of, government records. The covered organizations include the National
Security Archive, the Center for National Security Studies, Public Citizen, American Civil Liberties Union, Reporters
Committee for Freedom of the Press, and People for the American Way.
The remainder of the book documents recent and continuing impediments to the "right to know." In particular,
Foerstel notes the limited follow-through of the Clinton administration on initial promises for more open government,
the slow progress by many agencies (with notable exceptions) in implementing the Electronic Freedom of Information
Amendments of 1996, and the continued hostility of the courts and the security agencies. The final paragraph concludes
that freedom of information is furthered only when Congress exercises its oversight in a muscular manner. This
is an interesting and important hypothesis that should have been the subject of more careful analysis and documentation
throughout the book.
The book is clearly written and reads very easily. But it is a slim volume in many ways. It is probably best suited
for refreshing the memory of someone like me who had studied and used the FOIA in the distant past, but had not
followed its later development. It assumes too much knowledge to be intelligible to the complete novice. Yet,
it is much too anecdotal and sketchy to be useful to those familiar with the workings of the FOIA or to those interested
in systematically collected data on the use or effectiveness of the FOIA. Although a major section is headed "Effective
Use of the FOIA", it is not adequate as a "how to" reference. The chapter notes are barely adequate,
but there are useful appendices containing the statute with notes on the 1996 amendments and selective case list
that references the exemption or process issue treated in the case.
Copyright 2000 by the author.