Heritage Foundation targets federal agencies with a flood of FOIA requests

The Heritage Foundation has submitted over 50,000 Freedom of Information Act requests to federal agencies, seeking information on employees and communications that could be politically sensitive, especially for a potential Trump administration.

Sharon Lerner and Andy Kroll report for ProPublica.

In short:

• The Heritage Foundation has inundated agencies like the Department of the Interior and Homeland Security with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, focusing on key terms such as "climate change" and "diversity."
• The think tank is also pushing a plan to fire tens of thousands of civil servants if Trump regains office, aiming to overhaul the federal workforce.
• Government officials worry that this volume of requests disrupts agency functions and could intimidate public employees.

Key quote:

“It does ring some alarm bells as to whether this is part of an effort to either intimidate government employees or, ultimately, to fire them and replace them with people who are going to be loyal to a leader that they may prefer.”

— Noah Bookbinder, president and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

Why this matters:

The unprecedented volume of FOIA requests risks undermining the efficiency of federal agencies and may be part of broader efforts to reshape the U.S. government workforce to align with partisan goals.

Read more: Republicans’ growing distrust in science is a danger to public health