Is There Anyone Who Can Respond to My FOIA Requests? Anyone?

The writer of this article has been submitting Freedom of Information Act requests for years, specifically gathering data on staff lists and financial disclosures from both Trump administrations. They focused much of their data on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which houses a vast array of federal employee information. However, in early 2025, the agency responsible for handling FOIA requests was drastically altered, leading to a frustrating and convoluted process for obtaining records.

The office responsible for FOIA requests was hit hard by layoffs and cuts, with over 600 information specialists leaving their positions since the start of the second Trump administration. This left OPM with a backlog of over 1,600 FOIA requests, with an average processing time of 84 days, nearly double the time from the previous year.

Attempts to submit requests led to dead ends, such as bounced email addresses, and the website directed them to Opexus, a company under scrutiny for lax cybersecurity standards and facing multiple legal issues. When reaching out to Opexus support, they acknowledged the issue but had not yet resolved it, leaving the writer still awaiting the records they requested.