- The United States attorney general Merrick Garland has ordered federal agencies to deploy more transparency while dealing with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, the Wall Street Journal reported.
- Garland said that information release should not be held back unless there is a “foreseeable harm or legal bar to disclosure.”
- He has sent a four-page directive detailing when and how officials should release information.
- The report noted that the Attorney General’s FOIA guidelines direct federal departments and agencies to continue efforts to remove barriers to requesting and accessing government records and reduce FOIA processing backlogs.
- A bipartisan group of lawmakers urged Garland last month to publish guidance that would encourage executive-branch agencies to implement FOIA more transparently.
