FOIA.gov

The federal government's centralized portal for submitting Freedom of Information Act requests to any federal agency.

Strong

https://www.foia.gov · Reviewed 2026-04-11 · Editorial assessment by Mike Schneider — not an independent security audit

What should journalists know about FOIA.gov?

FOIA.gov is the Department of Justice's centralized portal for the Freedom of Information Act. It lets you submit requests to over 100 federal agencies from a single interface, search agency FOIA libraries for previously released records, and look up agency FOIA contacts and processing statistics. The portal itself is straightforward — pick an agency, describe what you want, submit. The hard part is not the portal; it is the federal bureaucracy behind it. Response times vary wildly by agency: some respond in weeks, others take years. The portal does not fix that. What it does fix is discoverability. Before FOIA.gov consolidated things, you had to find each agency's individual submission process, which ranged from web forms to fax numbers. Now there is one place. The annual report data is genuinely useful for journalists — you can see which agencies are the worst bottlenecks, how many requests are pending, and how often exemptions are invoked. For serious FOIA work, pair this portal with MuckRock (which tracks requests and handles appeals) and the FOIA Project from TRAC (which tracks FOIA litigation). FOIA.gov is the front door; those tools help you when the door gets stuck.

Best for

Submitting FOIA requests to any federal agency from one portal. Finding agency FOIA reading rooms with previously released documents. Looking up agency FOIA contact information and submission requirements. Reviewing annual FOIA report data — processing times, backlogs, exemption usage by agency. Understanding which agencies handle requests fastest.

Not for

State and local public records requests (each state has its own process — use MuckRock for multi-state requests). Tracking your request status after submission (some agencies have their own tracking systems, but FOIA.gov does not provide unified status tracking). Speeding up slow agencies. FOIA litigation tracking (use the FOIA Project for that). Non-US government records.

Security & Privacy

Encryption in transit Yes

Data is scrambled while being sent to their servers

Encryption at rest Yes

Data is scrambled when stored on their servers

Data jurisdiction United States. Operated by the Department of Justice, Office of Information Policy. Hosted on federal government infrastructure.

Where servers are located — affects which governments can request your data

Security rating Strong

Federal government website subject to federal privacy laws and OMB policies. Collects standard web analytics (IP address, browser type, pages visited). FOIA requests themselves become federal records — your name, the agency you filed with, and the subject of your request are logged. Agencies may publish logs of FOIA requests received. No commercial tracking or advertising.

How to protect yourself:

Your FOIA request is a federal record and may be publicly logged by the receiving agency — this means anyone can see what you asked for. If investigating sensitive topics, consider whether the request itself reveals your reporting direction. Use general language in request descriptions where possible. For sensitive investigations, consider having a researcher or lawyer file on your behalf. Pair with MuckRock for request tracking, appeal templates, and collaboration features that FOIA.gov does not provide. Check agency reading rooms first — the records you need may already be publicly available.

Federal government website operated by the Department of Justice on government infrastructure. HTTPS throughout. Subject to federal cybersecurity standards (FISMA, FedRAMP). No commercial tracking or advertising. The main consideration is not technical security but operational privacy: your FOIA requests are federal records that may be publicly logged, which can reveal your reporting interests to the agency you are investigating and to anyone who reviews FOIA logs.

Who Owns This

Owner U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Information Policy

Funding Federally funded. Operated by the Department of Justice as a statutory requirement under the OPEN Government Data Act.

Business model Government service. No revenue model. Exists to fulfill the federal government's obligation under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. § 552) to provide public access to government records.

Pricing

Completely free. FOIA requests themselves are free to submit, though agencies may charge duplication fees for large document productions. Fee waivers are available for journalists and news media representatives under the statute.

This is an editorial assessment based on publicly available information as of 2026-04-11, using our published methodology. Independent security review is pending. Security posture can change at any time. This is not a guarantee of safety.

Something wrong or outdated? Report it.