Perfected Allegations of Wrongdoing – Part I of IV

Department of Labor/OSHA, January 2009 to October 2024, Part 5

Denying transparency to obstruct accountability - Using FOIA as a Weapon

In this last part, we examine how FOIA has become a tool common throughout federal agencies to block investigations of senior leader wrongdoing by delaying production of the information necessary to hold them accountable. This delay acts to degrade evidence and witness statements to make investigations more difficult and limit their effect. The longer the delay, the greater the degrading of evidence, and when the delay is for years, as it was here and in other places during this Whistleblower investigation, and is accompanied with refusing to fully honor a FOIA request, which also was common during our investigation, it effectively denies any accountability.

This is an issue that affects everyone who attempts to gain access to essential information of how the U.S. government is working, including members of Congress and journalists who often don’t have sufficient evidence to realize the importance of their requests.