Secretary Tom Vilsack hailed the “outstanding” FOIA work of USDA in a department-wide letter sent on September 10, 2021.
USDA: Thank you FOIA professionals and information aggregators
Colleagues,
I would like to highlight the outstanding work of USDA’s Freedom of Information Act professionals. Since 1967, the FOIA has provided the public the right to request access to records from any federal agency. It is often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about their government. At USDA, we are committed to ensuring transparency and trust with the public. Although the USDA community has a number of full-time FOIA professionals, there are also many staff members performing FOIA functions across the country in addition to other assigned duties. This is testament to the shared responsibility and dedication towards this priority. I applaud the teams’ hard work and diligent effort to respond promptly to FOIA requests, to adapt a presumption in favor of disclosure, and to provide exemplary customer service for the tens of thousands of requesters seeking records annually.
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