While not quite ready to rival McDonalds' number of hamburgers sold yet

the Office of Information Policy did recently announce that in 2023 the 120 federal government agencies combined processed over one million Freedom of Information Act requests. 

This number of requests is nearly 30% higher than in 2022 and indicates a continuing trend of growing demand for government information. 

All data on information requests is held at FOIA.gov which since 2011 has been the dashboard for reporting by government agencies on statistics concerning FOIA requests. Reporting FOIA statistics is required by law; each agency must submit a report to the Attorney General annually. Since these reports are all published on FOIA.gov, the public can retrieve historical data as well as compile comparative data among agencies. There is no central agency for receiving and processing FOIA requests, but FOIA.gov is the central arena for agencies to submit their reports. 

The Freedom of Information Act was first passed by Congress in 1966 and last amended in 2016. It gives any member of the public the right to request information from any federal agency. There are nine exemptions to agencies’ required response based on personal privacy, national security, and law enforcement. Agencies are required to report partial information on requested topics when they can. The Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) helps resolve disputes between requesters of information and government agencies who say they cannot disclose the information requested. The Office of Information Policy within the Department of Justice is responsible for guidance to the government agencies on FOIA.

FOIA Improvements

On Aug. 3 Congress passed a Freedom of Information reform bill authored by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and John Cornyn (R-Tx) after reaching a compromise with Senator Jon Kyle (R-Az). To read Leahy and Cornyn's comments about the legislation, access the "Open Government Act of 2007." Scholars at the National Security Archive maintained by George Washington University have also posted a discussion claiming that this legislation will fix some of the "most glaring problems with the U.S. Freedom of Information Act" originally passed in 1966 and previously amended in 1974, 1976, 1986, and 1996.