FOIAengine: Journalists and Non-Profits Gear Up
Within hours of President Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, news media organizations and non-profits began filing Freedom of Information Act requests to gain insights into early Trump administration developments. Based on a FOIAengine analysis of late-January FOIA logs just made available by eight federal agencies, 29 FOIA requests relating to the Trump administration were submitted between January 21 and January 31.
This early sampling of new FOIA requests sought information about communications to and from the Department of Government Efficiency (7), personnel reductions at various agencies (6), Elon Musk’s potential conflicts of interest (4), the pausing of external communications by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control (4), President Trump’s decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico (3), the firing of agency Inspectors General (2), and communications about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (2).
Keep in mind, the requests we’re describing are from about 20 percent of the 38 agencies that we monitor (updates are ongoing) and came in during the 11 days in January that followed Trump’s inauguration. FOIA requests can be early warnings of future events. As more agencies report, we believe these late-January requests will signal the beginning of a significant wave of FOIA requests from journalists and issue-oriented organizations seeking inside information on the policy and personnel initiatives of the new administration. Litigation strategies may be revealed.
These requests can be found in PoliScio Analytics’ competitive-intelligence database FOIAengine, which tracks FOIA requests in as close to real-time as their availability allows.
Almost all the late-January requests came from news media and non-profit organizations. The ten news media requests included Bloomberg News with six requests, and Business Insider, CBS News, Politico, and ProPublica with one request each.
The 16 non-profit requests were made by the Democracy Forward Foundation (8), Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington (3), Judicial Watch (2), American Oversight (1), CLC Advancing Democracy Through Law (1), and Public Citizen (1).
The government agencies receiving these requests were the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (6), the Department of Transportation Office of the Secretary (5), the Federal Trade Commission (4), the Food and Drug Administration (4), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (4), Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (2), Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (2), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (2).
The following are excerpts from these FOIA requests relating to several leading issues.
Department of Government Efficiency
John Newsham of Business Insider submitted a request to NASA on January 29 asking for any communications from November 14 to January 29 between any NASA employee and any representative of the Department of Government Efficiency. Newsham named nine NASA officials and 29 DOGE and Trump administration representatives whose communications were of interest.
Jordan Pilant of Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington submitted a request to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (Interior) on January 24 seeking agency records regarding DOGE and “all communications between employees of BSEE and Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, Antonio Gracias, William (Bill) McGinley, or Steve Davis” and their representatives, as well as anyone with an affiliation with DOGE.
Kate Huddleston of CLC Advancing Democracy Through Law submitted a request to DOT on January 22 seeking all communications sent or received “by your office or agency regarding the deployment of individuals associated or affiliated with … DOGE” and “all communications between any employee or employees of your office or agency” and a list of specific DOGE and Trump administration representatives.
Skye Perryman of the Democracy Forward Foundation submitted a request to NASA on January 21 for “all calendar invitations and/or entries of NASA’s agency transition director Casey Swails reflecting meetings and/or calls with representatives of the presidential transition team … and/or representatives of … DOGE.”
Perryman submitted a similar request to DOT on January 24 seeking calendar and meeting information regarding “DOT’s agency transition director Keith Washington” and DOGE representatives.
Jonathan Maier of Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington submitted a request to the FTC on January 22 seeking “any and all communications between employees of the FTC” and a detailed list of administration and DOGE representatives, as well as Senator Joni Ernst and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene between November 5 and January 3.
Alex Goldstein of Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington submitted a similar request to DOT on January 31 seeking the same type of information about communications between DOT employees and DOGE and Trump administration representatives.
Personnel Issues
Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward Foundation on January 20 and January 22 asked the CDC, the SEC, DOT and NASA for “all appointment memoranda and removal memoranda appointing or removing individuals to or from positions within the agency” and “a list or spreadsheet designating individuals for appointment, assignment, removal, or demotion.” An unnamed DFF representative made a similar request to the FDA on January 28.
Annie Waldman of ProPublica asked the CDC on January 24 for a list of “Appointees under Temporary Transition Schedule C (TTC) Authority and Temporary Transition SES Appointing Authorities (NC SES) hired at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
Elon Musk
Dana Hull of Bloomberg News asked the FTC on January 23 for “any complaints made to the FTC about Elon Musk since January 20 through January 22 or the date this request is processed.”
Nandan Joshi of Public Citizen asked the FTC on January 30 for all communications regarding Elon Musk after January 20, specifically emails with an individual whose email address has the domain @spacex.com or @boringcompany.com, or a representative of DOGE.
Sam Ogozalek of POLITICO asked NASA on January 24 for all emails referencing “Mars” or “Elon” or “Musk” or “Trump” or “Artemis” from noon to 10 p.m. Eastern time January 20 sent by or received by NASA’s acting administrator Janet Petro, associate administrator James Free, or deputy associate administrator Casey Swails.
Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward Foundation asked the FTC on January 23 for “all electronic communications” between specified agency officials and any email addresses ending in Tesla.com, Spacex.com, Starlink.com, BoringCompany.com, Neuralink.com, and X.com.
Pausing Health Agency External Communications
Jason Leopold, Senior Investigative Reporter for Bloomberg News, asked the CDC on January 28 for all records “that federal health agencies, including the CDC, pause all external communications, such as health advisories, weekly scientific reports, updates to websites and social media posts” and the “identity of the named health advisories, weekly scientific reports, updates to websites and social media posts that have been paused thus far.”
An unidentified Bloomberg News reporter asked the FDA on January 28 for any communications referencing instructions from the Trump administration to specified FDA staff directing that “federal health agencies, including the FDA, pause all external communications, such as health advisories, weekly scientific reports, updates to websites and social media posts” and “records that identify the named health advisories, weekly scientific reports, updates to websites and social media posts that have been paused thus far.”
An unidentified CBS News representative asked the FDA on January 23 for emails received by FDA Acting Associate Commissioner for External Affairs Heidi Rebello or FDA Assistant Commissioner for Media Affairs Michael Felberbaum from HHS Principal Deputy Chief of Staff Stefanie Spear “regarding communications to the public.”
Gulf of America
Jason Leopold of Bloomberg News asked the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (Interior) on January 22 for all records “referencing President Donald Trump and changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America in a move that was entirely motivated by politics and American exceptionalism. Trump said at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month that his rationale for changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America is because a trade imbalance exists with Mexico and because of illegal immigration into the U.S. from Mexico.”
Jason Leopold of Bloomberg News also asked the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (Interior) on January 24 for all records “referencing President Donald Trump and changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the ‘Gulf of America.’ Please search the offices of the Director, Deputy Director, Policy & Analysis, Asst Director for Strategic Engagement, Congressional & International Affairs, Public Affairs, General Counsel.”
Inspectors General
Jason Leopold of Bloomberg News asked the SEC on January 26 for a “copy of the letter Sergio Gor, the White House’s Director of Presidential Personnel, or any other White House official, sent to the SEC Inspector General Deborah Jeffrey notifying Ms. Jeffrey that she was being terminated as IG, and any response (letter, memo, email) Ms. Jeffrey sent to Mr. Gor or any other White House official and exchanged regarding their termination as SEC IG or any communications related to the termination of IGs by President Trump.”
Emma Lewis of American Oversight asked DOT on January 30 for “records with the potential to shed light on the firing of 17 inspectors general that took place in the first week of the second Trump administration.” American Oversight sought “information relevant to the lead up to this decision and have the potential to shed light on whether and to what extent these firings ‘flouted the law,’ as some experts have stated.”
FOIAengine access now is available for all professional members of Investigative Reporters and Editors, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of journalism. IRE is the world’s oldest and largest association of investigative journalists. Following the federal government’s shutdown of FOIAonline.gov last year, FOIAengine is the only source for the most comprehensive, fully searchable archive of FOIA requests across dozens of federal departments and agencies. FOIAengine has more robust functionality and searching capabilities and standardizes data from different agencies to make it easier to work with. PoliScio Analytics is proud to be partnering with IRE to provide this valuable content to investigative reporters worldwide.
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Next: The latest market-moving hedge fund and short-seller requests.
Randy E. Miller, co-creator of FOIAengine, is a Washington lawyer, publisher, and former government official. He has developed several online information products and was a partner at Hogan Lovells, where he founded the firm’s Brussels office and represented clients on international regulatory matters. Miller also has served as a White House trade lawyer, Senior Legal Adviser to the U.S. Mission to the World Trade Organization, policy director to Senator Bob Dole, and adjunct professor at Georgetown University. He is a graduate of Yale and Georgetown Law. FOIAengine is a product of PoliScio Analytics (PoliScio.com), a venture specializing in U.S. political and governmental research, co-founded by Miller and Washington journalist John A. Jenkins. Learn more about FOIAengine here. Sign up here to become a trial user of FOIAengine.
Write to Randy E. Miller at [email protected].
