FOIAengine: Leading Topics Include DOGE, Executive Orders and Confidential Data
As President Donald Trump moves quickly to implement his ambitious agenda, media organizations and non-profits are accelerating and sharpening their use of Freedom of Information Act requests in an attempt to find out more. FOIA requests from both groups have become increasingly specific and more expansive in terms of the records sought, according to a new PoliScio Analytics analysis of newly released February requests.
The groups’ most recent FOIA requests to federal agencies seek such things as various agencies’ plans for implementing Trump’s executive orders; the extent to which the Department of Government Efficiency has access to (and use of) confidential data; agencies’ interactions and contractual agreements with DOGE; and internal communications about the firing and hiring of government employees.
This research is a follow-up to our January 26 article analyzing Trump-related FOIA requests submitted between January 21 and January 31. (See Early Signals from FOIA Requests Show How Trump Actions Will Be Targeted.) Now that we have an additional full month’s worth of FOIA requests from numerous agencies, we’re taking a second look, since such requests can be early warnings of future events, including the policy and personnel initiatives of the new administration.
February’s FOIA request logs clearly show the new trend.
In conducting our analysis, we reviewed 72 February FOIA requests seeking information about Trump administration actions submitted to five important agencies: the Centers for Disease Control (24 requests), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (20 requests), the Federal Trade Commission (13 requests), the Food and Drug Administration (8 requests), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (7 requests). The five agencies are among the 41 that FOIAengine continuously monitors and compiles logs for. All the 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. Updates are ongoing.
As was the case in January, the new requests about Trump’s initiatives were submitted almost solely by the news media and government-oriented non-profit organizations.
As you will see from our summaries of specific FOIA requests, many have become long and highly detailed. Rather than making a general inquiry for “all communications” relating to a single topic, a number of the February requests seek information about many aspects of an issue; ask for communications to and from a list of specific individuals and organizations; and itemize a long list of document formats that should be searched, including Signal, Slack, X, voicemail, video recording, screenshot, or “other communications through any platform.”
The 26 news media requests were submitted by Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Law (5), the Wall Street Journal (3), the Associated Press (2), the Houston Chronicle (2), Reuters (2), and one each from cbsnews.com, FedScoop, POLITICO, ProPublica, Protos Media, Scientific American, Capitol Forum, and Texas Newsroom/KUT News.
The 20 non-profit requests were submitted by Democracy Forward Foundation (11), American Civil Liberties Union (3), Property of the People (2), and one each from American Oversight, Campaign Legal Center, Judicial Watch, and State Democracy Defenders Fund.
One journalist made clear her motivation for filing the FOIA requests. In submitting a February 12 request to the CDC, Michelle Smith of the Associated Press wrote that the request “involves a matter of urgent public concern related to various actions of [the] government … and would shed significant light and help the public and policymakers understand” the administration’s actions.
News Media Requests
The following are representative requests submitted by the news media:
• Gregory Korte of Bloomberg News on February 20 asked NASA for “all memoranda of agreement, inter-agency agreements or other contracts for services from the U.S. DOGE Service … from January 1, 2024, to the present.”
• Bloomberg’s Gregory Korte also asked the SEC on February 17 for “copies of documents required by Executive Order 14178 of January 23, 2025, “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology.”
• Jason Leopold of Bloomberg News on February 12 asked the SEC for, among other things, “the SEC’s visitor logs documenting the individuals who have visited the SEC,” “all resignation letters SEC personnel from the following divisions have submitted since November 5, 2024,” and “all letters individual Senators, House Representatives and Oversight Committees have sent to Paul Atkins, Chairman Gary Gensler and the Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs Office and any responses to those letters.”
• Andrea Leinfelder of the Houston Chronicle on February 6 asked NASA for “the number of employees, including NASA civil servants and government contractors, who worked as of Jan. 20, 2025, in DEIA offices and with DEIA-related positions and were put on administrative leave as a direct result of President Donald Trump’s executive orders titled ‘Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing’ and ‘Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions, which repeals Executive Order 14035, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce.’”
• Taylor Thomas of Politico on February 6 asked the CDC for “any email communications sent to or from the following people at or working with the CDC, related to the decision to remove several data sets and web pages from the CDC website in compliance with executive orders.”
• Heather Vogell of ProPublica on February 20 asked NASA for “all internal agency communications, documents, correspondence, or discussions regarding DOGE, and Elon Musk or Vivek Ramaswamy in relation to DOGE and their capacities as future leaders of DOGE. This includes, but is not limited to, meeting agendas, minutes, notes, memos, briefing materials, drafts, presentations, or analyses created, received, or reviewed by NASA personnel.”
• Max Berengaut of the Capitol Forum on February 26 asked the FTC for “employee responses to the recent email from the Department of Governmental Efficiency which requested government employees to detail five items they accomplished in the past week.”
Non-Profit Requests
The following are representative requests submitted by non-profits:
• Nathan Wessler of the American Civil Liberties Union on February 7 asked the CDC for “records pertaining to access to sensitive agency records by individuals associated with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).”
• David Kronig of American Oversight on February 26 asked the CDC for “records sufficient to identify the name, title, office, category of employment … of all individuals who have been granted access for the first time to personally identifiable or sensitive information or data,” “records sufficient to identify … the training provided to such individuals,” “the specific information or data to which such individuals have been granted access,” “the specific legal purpose for granting such individuals access,” “all steps that your agency has taken to protect personally identifiable or sensitive information or data” [and] “all records governing access to personally identifiable or sensitive information or data.”
• Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward Foundation submitted on different dates in February five nearly identical requests to NASA, CDC, FTC, FDA, and SEC that asked for all electronic communications between listed agency officials and listed DOGE, White House, transition, campaign, Project 2025, America First Policy Institute, and America First Legal officials that include requests to (1) provide personnel files, (2) identify lists of personnel using telework, remote-work, or flexible work agreements, (3) identify lists of personnel who could be reclassified under Schedule F, (4) identify lists of personnel who may be insufficiently loyal, whether due to political affiliation or positions on January 6 or the 2020 election, (5) identify proposals for reductions in force or office relocations, (6) identify minimum numbers of employees to perform agency’s statutorily mandated functions, (7) identify regulations that could be paused by Trump under recent Supreme Court decisions, or (8) identify lists or amounts of unobligated funds.
• Democracy Forward’s Sky Perryman also submitted on different dates in February four nearly identical requests to the FDA, FTC, CDC, and NASA seeking “all SF-50 Notifications for Personnel Action or SF-52 Requests for Personnel Action which were issued, sent, or signed from January 20, 2025 through the date of the search for any political appointees or special government employees,” and “any document compiling or reflecting the personnel actions to be taken by the incoming Trump Administration upon assumption of office, such as a list or spreadsheet designating individuals for appointment, assignment, removal, or demotion.” An SF-50 is an official document used by the federal government to record and communicate personnel actions for federal employees. An SF-52 is a federal government form used to initiate a personnel action, and is often submitted by supervisors or HR personnel to request actions like hiring, promotions, reassignments, or separations.
This remains a developing story. On Monday of this week, Democracy Forward made clear its intentions in using FOIA, and the impediments it has thus far encountered. The group issued a March 24 press release that referred to DOGE’s Agency RIF and Reorganization Plans by the acronym “ARRP” and complained about FOIA inaction: “Democracy Forward has filed dozens of FOIA requests at 29 agencies to bring the actions of Musk, DOGE, OPM, and OMB out of the shadows and discover the pending impact the ARRP plans could have on services millions rely on and the livelihoods of millions of American workers. Those FOIAs have gone unanswered.”
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.
To see all the requests mentioned in this story, log in or sign up to become a FOIAengine trial user.
Next: The latest hedge fund 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].
