ProPublica: FOIA requests crippled by Trump admin staff cuts
A ProPublica reporter documents how the Office of Personnel Management's decimated FOIA team has created a dysfunctional system for obtaining public records.
Conversation activity · last 17 hours peak 2/30m
Summary, timeline and people extracted by Claude from 7 items across 4 sources · 2h ago. Quotes are verbatim.
ProPublica reporter Al Shaw documented how cuts to the Office of Personnel Management's FOIA staff—over 600 government information specialists fired or resigned since early 2025 as part of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency—have made requesting public records nearly impossible. Processing times have doubled, backlog has increased sevenfold, and the agency's web portal now directs users to defunct email addresses, creating what Shaw calls a 'Kafkaesque' process.
- More than 600 federal FOIA specialists have been cut or quit since early 2025 under DOGE-driven reductions.
- OPM's FOIA backlog has grown sevenfold (to 1,600+ requests) and average processing time has doubled to 84+ days.
- The agency's web portal directs users to nonexistent email addresses, making it impossible to file requests through official channels.
- A former OPM FOIA specialist told ProPublica the cuts prevent the office from meeting its statutory obligations to process public records requests.
How it unfolded
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The article spread across Bluesky and Mastodon, with users highlighting the contrast between the Trump administration's stated support for free speech and the practical barriers to accessing public records.
“The Trump Administration claims to respect free speech and prides itself on access, but @shaw.al of @propublica.org finds reality to be starkly different”
earleboxer.bsky.social · Bluesky ↗ -
Al Shaw published a detailed account of how DOGE-driven staff cuts have created a dysfunctional FOIA process, describing it as increasingly 'Kafkaesque' with bounced emails and broken portals.
- 6 weeks quiet
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Shaw attempted to submit a FOIA request for OPM human resources data via the agency's web portal but received an error message directing him to email a support address. The email bounced back; the vendor (AINS) had been renamed to Opexus.
- 39 weeks quiet
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By end of fiscal year 2025, OPM had 1,600 unprocessed FOIA requests in backlog—seven times more than the prior year. Average processing time for simple requests rose to over 84 days, twice the previous year's average.
- 34 weeks quiet
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The Office of Personnel Management laid off FOIA specialists as part of the Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency's federal workforce reductions. A then-FOIA specialist told Shaw: "They just let the whole Privacy team go."
“They just let the whole Privacy team go”
Former OPM FOIA specialist · Bluesky ↗ -
According to OPM data, more than 600 government information specialists (FOIA and Privacy Act administrators) resigned or were fired since the second Trump administration began. Within OPM alone, 12 specialists left, with 7 laid off and only 1 new hire.
What people are saying verbatim
“They just let the whole Privacy team go”
Former OPM FOIA specialist, OPM employee (email) · ProPublica ↗ · Jan 31
“Getting records from the agency has since become an increasingly Kafkaesque process, one that in early July of this year bounced me between three different seemingly abandoned email inboxes and two web portals.”
Al Shaw, ProPublica reporter · ProPublica ↗ · Aug 10
“The cuts made the office less efficient, less able to perform its function and threatened the statutory laws they are required to fulfill.”
Former OPM FOIA specialist, OPM employee (phone interview) · ProPublica ↗ · Aug 10
“Something went wrong while processing your action. Please contact [email protected] for assistance if the problem persists.”
OPM FOIA portal, System error message · ProPublica ↗ · Jun 30
“The Trump Administration claims to respect free speech and prides itself on access, but @shaw.al of @propublica.org finds reality to be starkly different”
earleboxer.bsky.social, Bluesky user · Bluesky ↗ · Aug 10
“Asking the federal government for public records didn't always feel like a shell game. But bounced emails and broken portals seem like the new normal.”
ProPublica, News organization · ProPublica (social post) ↗ · Aug 10
The conversation positions from the crowd, verbatim
Social media users largely frame the story as evidence of the Trump administration's obstruction of transparency, despite its stated commitment to free speech. The conversation treats the FOIA dysfunction as deliberate and illustrative of broader governance failures, with strong skepticism of official claims.
DOGE cuts to FOIA staff represent deliberate obstruction of government transparency and public accountability.
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“The Trump Administration claims to respect free speech and prides itself on access, but @shaw.al of @propublica.org finds reality to be starkly different … surprising no one who is paying attention.”
earleboxer.bsky.social · Bluesky ↗
Voices from the web unedited
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NEW: At ProPublica, we file a lot of public records requests. But since the start of the second Trump administration, writes news apps developer @shaw.al, getting public records has become a “Kafkaesque” process of bounced emails and broken portals.
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At ProPublica, we file a lot of public records requests. But since the start of the second Trump administration, writes news apps developer Al Shaw, getting public records has become a “Kafkaesque” process of bounced emails and broken portals. https://www. propublica.org/article/foia-re…
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The Trump Administration claims to respect free speech and prides itself on access, but @shaw.al of @propublica.org finds reality to be starkly different ... surprising no one who is paying attention.