Guardian UK : US FOIA Rules Not Seen Affecting Information

Tuesday September 16,

"Attorney General John Ashcroft's tightening of Freedom of Information Act guidelines has had no effect on the amount of information released, said nearly half of the government FOIA officials surveyed in a report issued Monday. Forty-eight percent of surveyed government officials who handle FOIA requests said they noticed no changes in what their agencies release to the general public since Ashcroft changed the Justice Department's FOIA memorandum. Only a third of the officials - 31 percent - said their agencies release less information to the public because of Ashcroft's 2001 directive, according to the General Accounting Office, Congress's watchdog arm. "