Getting NASA To Comply With Simple FOIA Requests Is a Nightmare (vice.com)

From a report on Motherboard: Freedom of Information Act requests are used by journalists, private citizens, and government watchdogs to acquire public documents from government agencies. FOIAing NASA, however, can be an exercise in futility. In one recent case, Motherboard requested all emails from a specific NASA email address with a specific subject line. Other government agencies have completed similar requests with no problems. NASA, however, said it was "unclear what specific NASA records you are requesting." Possibly the only way to be more specific is to knock on NASA's door and show them a printout of what an email is. JPat Brown, executive editor of public records platform MuckRock, explained similarly frustrating experiences with NASA. "Even in cases where we've requested specific contracts by name and number, NASA has claimed that our request was too broad, and added insult to injury with a form letter rejection that includes the sentence 'we are not required to hunt for needles in bureaucratic haystacks,'" Brown told Motherboard in an email. Brown added that NASA has refused to process records unless presented with a requester's home address, something that is not included in the relevant code; and makes it more difficult for requests to obtain 'media' status.

Comments

In violation of the law?

[Frosty Piss]

NASA, like many federal agencies, is in violation of the law, Not just the intent of the law, but the law itself. As I posted in a previous "article" here today, where if the EFF?

Re:In violation of the law?

[ShanghaiBill]

NASA, like many federal agencies, is in violation of the law,

That means nothing if there are no penalties for violation. There are some sanctions for violating FOIA, but I am unaware of them every being applied, and I don't think any bureaucrat has ever been fired for denying or ignoring a FOIA request. So why should they care?

Re:Reimbursement

[spire3661]

All government records should be in searchable and in easily accessed formats. Hiding behind 'it costs too much too look' needs to die, now. Things like traffic cams shouldnt even allowed to be installed until a pathway for the public to access its records at any time is made available. All government agencies should be required to submit ALL their records to an open repository, unless otherwise marked as sensitive or classified. FOIA should be the unfettered access to any record not marked classified. EVERY citizen should be able to access this data, en masse.

We are deep into an Information Age, its time to remind the government pervasive surveillance goes both ways.