The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

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Aug 18, 2025, Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, delivers a lecture on “Freedom of Information and Access to Archives in the Age of Trump and Deep Seek” on July 3, 2025 in Yerevan at the symposium organized by the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. The 2025 Monterey Summer Symposium on Russia took place in Batumi, Yerevan, and Tbilisi from June 25 to July 13.

Featured Posting

Board Panel on Cover Action operation memorandum

JFK Files: Revelations from the Covert Operations High Command

Washington, D.C., April 7, 2025 - Just six months before the 1964 military coup that overthrew the government of João Goulart in Brazil, Deputy Director of Central Intelligence…

Apr 7, 2025

Previous Postings

Disappearing Data: Trump Administration Removes Climate Information from Government Websites

Disappearing Data:
Trump Administration Removing Climate Information from Government Websites

Feb 6, 2025

National Security Archive Files Lawsuit Against 12-Year Freedom of Information Backlog

Nov 21, 2024

National Security Archive Director Featured on Peter Bergen’s “In the Room” Podcast

Oct 18, 2024

History Coalition Warns of Critical Needs at National Archives

Jul 22, 2024

Tom Blanton Wants to Know Our Government's Secrets

Washingtonian Magazine Profiles National Security Archive

Jun 28, 2024

U.S. National Archives’ 2025 Budget Request Threatens Mission Failure

Mar 15, 2024

Archive Director Testifies to U.S. Senate on Over-classification

Mar 23, 2023

Key Agencies Missing from Central Freedom of Information Act Portal

Mar 9, 2023

Inter-American Court Orders Opening of Military Archives

Jan 24, 2023

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Thank you

Generous funding provided by the CS Fund/Warsh-Mott Legacy and the Open Society Foundations

Featured FOIA Roundtable

In the more than 50 years that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has been on the books, it has helped revolutionize Americans’ understanding of how their government works in practice. But the agencies and departments of the executive branch that are covered by the FOIA have persistently attempted to thwart its effective implementation.

featured interview

Nate Jones stops by NPR's All Things Considered to discuss the thousands of Donald Rumsfeld "snowflakes" that were released in response to the Archive's FOIA lawsuit.

In the Media

Former archivist raises red flags over NARA cuts

Federal News Network

Jun 20, 2025

The JFK Files

History As It Happens

Apr 1, 2025

Hillary Clinton sent emails ‘stamped’ Top Secret? No, government reviews paint a different picture

Politifact

Mar 25, 2025

The Nation’s Archivist Should Not Be Political

The Bulwark

Mar 12, 2025

USAID keeping reports secret out of fear of Trump retaliation

Freedom of the Press Foundation

Mar 9, 2025

Featured Videos

FOIA 50th Anniversary - American History TV visits the National Security Archive to talk FOIA history with our director, Tom Blanton. Watch the informative and entertaining 11-minute clip here:

Man vs. FOIA - McClatchyDC talks with National Security Archive FOIA Project Director Nate Jones about the FOIA requesting process.

Why We File - During celebration of the Sunshine Week 2018 Nate Jones talks to the Export Import Bank about the Freedom of Information Act from a requester's perspective.