In 2009, he filed a freedom of information request. Twelve years later he got answers

By Asma Khalid, NPR, Oct. 24, 2021

The media's primary role in a functioning democracy is to hold the government accountable and keep citizens informed. And in order to do that, a free press needs access to certain documents, from FBI investigations to court filings, which brings us to the reporter's best friend or biggest headache. Those are the requests they file under the Freedom Of Information Act, or FOIA. That's where reporters hoping to dig into a story ask a government agency for information that they want. And then they wait and wait and wait and wait for weeks, for months and, in the case of Bruce Alpert, 12 years.

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