US gov't sets record for failures to find files when asked

Study: Obama administration 's response to Freedom of Information Act requests abysmal

In this March 15 file photo, President Barack Obama smiles as he listens to Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny speak during their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. When it comes to providing government records the public is asking to see, the Obama administration is having a hard time finding them. In the final figures released during Obamas presidency, the U.S. government set a record last year for the number of times federal employees told disappointed citizens, journalists and others that despite searching they couldnt find a single page of files requested under the Freedom of Information Act. In more than one in six cases, or 129,825 times, government searchers said they came up empty-handed, according to a new Associated Press analysis. - photo by Associated Press

Sunshine Week FOIA Heal — In this March 15 file photo, President Barack Obama smiles as he listens to Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny speak during their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. When it comes to providing government records the public is asking to see, the Obama administration is having a hard time finding them. In the final figures released during Obamas presidency, the U.S. government set a record last year for the number of times federal employees told disappointed citizens, journalists and others that despite searching they couldnt find a single page of files requested under the Freedom of Information Act. In more than one in six cases, or 129,825 times, government searchers said they came up empty-handed, according to a new Associated Press analysis. - photo by Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration set a record for the number of times its federal employees told disappointed citizens, journalists and others that despite searching they couldn't find a single page requested under the Freedom of Information Act, according to a new Associated Press analysis of government data. In more than one in six cases, or 129,825 times, government searchers said they came up empty-handed last year. Such cases contributed to an alarming measurement: People who asked for records under the law received censored files or nothing in 77 percent of requests, also a record.