Interpreting the Freedom of Information Act in the Age of Electronic Government

This dissertation examined the impact of computers on federal information policy and the Freedom of Information Act. It sought to understand why the arrival of a new communication technology, which made it easier for agencies to find, process, and disseminate information, did not produce a corresponding increase in the release of federal information. Past federal information policy was assessed through examination of a variety of primary source historical materials and interviews with personnel active in shaping that policy. Current agency attitudes and policies were assessed through other primary source material and surveys of 70 federal agencies. This dissertation concluded that behavior of the federal information bureaucracy was key to the effective operation of information policy. The failure of a number of access-to-information measures seemed less the failure of congressional action than the result of agency efforts to interpret those actions in a way ensuring maximum agency control of internal files. This agency interpretation increased in periods of uncertainty, such as when new communication technologies such as computers rendered unclear the information laws written for paper documents. This dissertation concludes that for federal information access measures such as the Freedom of Information Act to operate effectively, specifications of required and prohibited agency actions must be brought in line with new technologies.