Three years after initial request, the NSA finally hands over records related to its youth outreach program - just not the ones I asked for.

FOIA can be slow and strange, but that might be all the more reason to introduce the youth, the future, to it now. For you educators, MuckRock’s made up some materials to assist you in starting a discussion about transparency in government.

It’s fair to say that after the Edward Snowden leaks, the National Security Agency (NSA) has had a bit of an image problem, which in turn has affected recruiting efforts. So what is the NSA doing to combat all this bad PR? Summer camps.

While teens across the United States prepare to return to their cliques and classes, MuckRock would like to introduce inquisitive minds and aspiring rebels to the paper path toward challenging your school, town, and local government. Encourage increased clarity in your academics, transparency in your community, and civic participation in your country: file a public records request.

Generally speaking, like most people in the FOIA community, my interest in public records stems from a desire to know what and why my government is doing, and the always pleasant surprise that I am legally owed an answer. Specifically speaking, I wanted to know who at the NSA signed off on making a saxophone-playing squirrel in safety goggles their kid-friendly mascot.