The Foilies: Government Transparency’s Hall of Shame Unveiled
Recognize the worst in government transparency as we dive into absurd public records requests. From a $2 million FOIA fee to a CIA fudge recipe too secret for sharing, the Foilies highlight the most baffling moments in government secrecy. It’s a laughable, yet critical, reminder of the battles for public access.
Hot Take:
Government transparency: the cosmic joke that keeps on giving. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, along comes another year of The Foilies, serving up a buffet of bureaucratic bungles and administrative absurdities. From $2 million price tags on public records to CIA fudge recipes classified as state secrets, it seems the only thing transparent here is how far these institutions will go to keep us in the dark. So grab your popcorn and settle in for this year’s edition of “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up!”
Key Points:
- The Rapides Parish School District initially quoted $2 million for a public records request, later providing just nine pages of information.
- University of Wisconsin-Madison played a game of hide-and-seek with a public records request involving a sports consultancy contract.
- The CIA redacted a fudge recipe from a holiday memo under the guise of federal protection.
- Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s office used a FOIA exemption to withhold communications from a military spouse on the governor’s own task force.
- NSA claimed technical obsolescence prevented access to a historic lecture by computing pioneer Grace Hopper, only for librarians to save the day.