Feds Ignore Information Requests From Scientology Church For 20 Years

This Independence Day marks 40 years since implementation of the Freedom of Information Act, the law aimed at ensuring public access to government records. Just last week, FOIA led to the release of information from the recesses of the CIA's files, offering details of assassination plots, domestic spying and drug experiments.

But a survey being released today by the National Security Archive, an independent research institute, found that the federal government is often slow in responding to FOIA requests. In fact, requests with some executive agencies have been pending for as long as two decades. The oldest request turned up in the audit was filed with the State Department by the Church of Scientology International in May 1987 -- half a lifetime ago for the law. The church wants to see information related to it that is held by State. It was among 10 FOIA requests that have been pending with the department for 15 years or more.

Read the entire article here