Document Shows How FBI Handled Background Checks for Trump Appointees
Welcome back to FOIA Files! Well, you can now add the State Department to the growing number of agencies with FOIA operations ravaged by the Trump administration's cuts across the federal government. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security has prohibited its FOIA officers from producing documents responsive to requests filed this year until it clears out its (extremely long) backlog. And on the document front, I finally obtained a copy of the memorandum of understanding between then-President-elect Donald Trump's 2024 transition team and the Department of Justice related to FBI background checks for his appointees. If you're not already getting FOIA Files in your inbox, sign up here.
Before we get to the documents, here's an update on the state of the Freedom of Information Act. The FOIA has taken a serious beating over the past five months. The mass firing of federal workers has hollowed out FOIA offices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Office of Personnel Management, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the US Agency for International Development, the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Justice Department and other agencies.
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