Governmentattic.org: thousands of interesting Federal Government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act

Welcome to governmentattic.org

governmentattic.org provides electronic copies of thousands of interesting Federal Government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.  Fascinating historical documents, reports on items in the news, oddities and fun stuff and government bloopers, they're all here.  Think of browsing this site as rummaging through the Government's Attic -- hence our name.   Our motto: Videre licet.

governmentattic.org has two file sections: FOIA Logs and Documents.
To get to the actual documents,  click on the above links: "FOIA LOGS" or "DOCUMENTS"

Recommended in the August issue of ALA's Choice
"The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) became law in 1966 and was later amended to cover electronic documents produced by various executive agencies but not Congress. The application process, though not exceedingly difficult, prevents easy, immediate access to a vast amount of material. Once a request is made, agency employees must find the document and then assess whether some or all of it can be released. This is a costly, time-consuming process, and requesters are charged for photocopying. To help citizens find or keep up with document releases, Keith Yearman, Michael Ravnitzky, and others created and now manage the free, "noncommercial website" Governmentattic.org. Its motto is Videre licet ("It is permitted to see"), and its logo is an owl perched on a limb. From the site's inception in 2007, newly released documents (electronic copies of documents obtained under FOIA) have been placed on the website weekly, in varying numbers".