FOIA Podcast Highlights Systemic Barriers to Government Transparency and Calls for Structural Reform

FOIA emerged from post‑War‑II demands for governmental accountability, but successive amendments—especially the 1974 and 1996 reforms—expanded exemptions for law enforcement, national security, and privacy, eroding its original promise. Historical parallels can be drawn to the British Official Secrets Act and its repeated revisions, which similarly balanced secrecy with limited public access. Understanding this trajectory reveals that today’s transparency struggles are not accidental but the result of deliberate policy shifts.