The Justice Department’s Office of Information Policy (OIP) typically marks Sunshine Week, an annual occasion to celebrate open and transparent government, with a public awards ceremony to honor the contributions of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) professionals across government.
This year, however, DoJ OIP appears to have abandoned previous plans to host the annual FOIA awards on March 17. DoJ did not respond to a request for comment.
For open government experts, the cancellation of what was a routine ceremony is just the latest blow in a new assault on government transparency. They point to how the Trump administration has fired FOIA staff, removed public websites and data, terminated 18 inspectors general, and resisted efforts to disclose DOGE records, among other actions.
“I think this is the darkest Sunshine Week within living memory,” Daniel Schuman, chief executive of the American Governance Institute, told me in an interview. “Nothing less than a collapse of open and accountable government is happening all around us.”
Experts are quick to point out that government transparency has been waning for years, under both Democratic and Republican administrations.
“We have data going back decades that show this backslide,” David Cuillier, director of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project, said in an interview. “Regardless of who’s president, regardless of what party is in charge. This isn’t about party politics. This is about power. Ultimately, that’s what transparency comes down to. Information is power.”
But experts also say the Trump administration’s targeting of independent government institutions is unprecedented and undercuts the principles of openness and transparency.
President Donald Trump recently forced out the head of the Office of Special Counsel, which protects federal whistleblower rights. He also fired the head of the National Archives and Records Administration after quarrelling with NARA over the retention of classified records following his first term.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has also fought efforts to release records about the U.S. DOGE Service’s sweeping efforts to remake government. A federal judge last week ruled that DOGE is likely subject to FOIA and ordered DOGE to process records requests from public interest groups.
“It’s this veil of secrecy that they’ve been able to pull over the entire executive branch,” Patrice McDermott, director of OpenTheGovernment.org, said in an interview.
FOIA challenges abound
The challenges with FOIA sit at the center of the government’s transparency challenges. Agencies have received record levels of FOIA requests in recent years. Agencies are taking longer to process requests, while complying with less documents requests in recent years.
“Every year it gets worse and worse, harder and harder to get information out of the federal government,” Cuillier said.
The governmentwide FOIA backlog increased 30% last year, to a all-time high of 267,000 cases by the end of fiscal 2024, according to data recently reported to DoJ.
Federal FOIA offices say they are understaffed, dealing with outdated technology, and lack training, among other challenges.
But an influx of new FOIA professionals is unlikely as the Trump administration seeks to slash government. CNN reported in February that privacy and FOIA staff at the Office of Personnel Management had been fired.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration also fired Bobak Talebian, the director of the DoJ OIP, earlier this month as part of a broader purge of career Justice officials.
OIP oversees agency compliance with FOIA law. And while transparency advocates are often at odds with OIP over its legal positions and policies, they said Talebian had fostered a more collaborative relationship with the records requester community.
Talebian was also an active participant in meetings of the federal FOIA Advisory Committee and had led OIP implementation of several of its recommendations.
“I think a lot of requesters felt that the DoJ and OIP still favored secrecy, but at least, I think the relationship was much better,” Cuillier said of Talebian’s leadership at OIP. “And personally, I just really liked the guy. I think things were improving.”
The Trump administration in February also terminated an Open Government Federal Advisory Committee, led by Schuman, which was developing recommendations for the sixth U.S. Open Government National Action Plan.
The new action plan is due in December. Schuman said the advisory committee was considering a wide range of ideas on FOIA administration, spending transparency, government secrecy, and other areas.
“I have no idea if that process is continuing,” Schuman said. “All the work that we did, the website where everything was published has been erased.”
Despite the headwinds, some advocates see an opportunity. Cuillier said previous advances in openness and transparency laws came in response to major concerns about government secrecy. He thinks the current period could produce a similar public response.
While DoJ doesn’t appear to be hosting its annual FOIA awards, the National Archives is still hosting a Sunshine Week event on “transparency and access to government records” on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Cuillier and the Brechner FOI Project are co-hosting an annual “Sunshine Fest” on Wednesday featuring representatives from federal, state and local governments, as well as nonprofits.
“We’re getting together and we’re going to talk about these issues, and we’re going to form networks, and we’re going to figure out what solutions are there that can help everyone, the government and the people, and that’s what we need to do,” Cuillier said. “I’m cautiously optimistic that in the next few years, this could lead to some positive change and renewed effort into good, accountable, transparent governmental actions.”
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