For Congress to get the background and facts they need to consider legislation and oversee the operations of the executive branch, it relies on the Government Accountability Office. Earlier this week, MuckRock had the opportunity to speak with Charles Young, Managing Director of Public Affairs, and John Bielec of the GAO Office of General Counsel.

Since the 2007 Open Government Act, the Office of Government Information Services has had a mandate to help mediate disputes between requesters and FOIA offices. With the 2016 FOIA Improvement Act, the responsibility of the office has been further expanded, and in this Agency Voice, OGIS director Alina M. Semo shares her view on the challenges ahead for the FOIA community.

As the Department of Defense’s Chief of FOIA Policy, Jim Hogan helps oversee the processes that manage the roughly 60,000 requests the DoD sees each year. For him, it all started 20 years ago when, as an active duty officer in the Air Force, he made the jump to processing FOIA requests.