FOIA

How To Get Your Government File

The Freedom of Information Act gives Americans the right to see what records the government has on any subject—including you.

Matthew Petti | 9.15.2026 3:15 PM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL Add Reason to Google

Media Contact & Reprint Requests

(Alena Dzihilevich/ Cammeraydave/Cameramannz/Dreamstime/Fatima Ruiz.)

I'll never get tired of quoting the geographer Trevor Paglen: "One of the contradictory things about the United States is that an incredible amount of the government is dedicated to doing things in secret. At the same time, it's one of the world's most open governments." America is one of the best places to be a national security journalist, because there's both a bloated surveillance state and a legal right to pick at its secrets. 

In a recent article about being detained at the border, I mentioned that I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to find out what files the agency had on me. "However long it takes for CBP to respond, and however heavily they redact the documents, I'm legally entitled to a response. And so are you," I wrote. Some readers reached out asking exactly how they could do the same. So here's a guide that I've written for your benefit.

FOIA is a powerful tool, but it requires knowing exactly how to use it. Requesters can't force the government to create new documents, only to hand over documents it already has. A request has to be directed at the right agency and include specific enough instructions for its archivists to find the records in question. The guy who........

© Reason.com