Justice accused of hindering multi-agency FOIA website

Open government watchdog groups are calling upon the White House to help resolve an apparent power struggle between the Justice Department and three other federal agencies over the creation of new websites for consolidating Freedom of Information Act requests and information. T

he tussle is over FOIA.gov, recently created by Justice, and a new FOIA Web portal being developed by the Environmental Protection Agency with assistance from the Commerce Department and the National Archives & Records Administration. Justice’s FOIA.gov, which is up and running, offers performance data on how FOIA requests are being handled governmentwide and contains links to agency FOIA reports. On the other hand, the developing multi-agency FOIA Web portal, expected to go public in October, would allow users to submit and track multiple agency FOIA requests from a central location. According to the watchdog groups, DOJ officials may have hindered broader participation in the three-agency FOIA Web portal project.