Defend Your Right to Know

Fifty years after the Freedom of Information Act, government transparency is again on the wane.

By Nicole Hemmer, U.S. News & World Report, July 5, 2017

Fifty years ago today, Washington witnessed a revolution. The Freedom of Information Act went into effect, establishing Americans' right to know. 

FOIA was a breathtaking accomplishment, the end result of a 12-year effort by John Moss, a Democratic congressman from California. The bill established that any citizen -- anyone, not just officeholders or journalists or well-connected insiders -- could ask the government for information, and the government had to respond. Every citizen had a right to know what the government was up to.

Read more here.