Federal vendor with $50M in contracts leaves portal broken for a month
A ProPublica reporter details the breakdown of federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) processes following staff cuts at the Office of Personnel Management. The investigation highlights how administrative changes under the Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency have hindered public access to government records.
Why it matters
Transparency in government is essential for accountability, and the degradation of FOIA processes limits the public's ability to monitor federal activities.
Contrast Change Appearance Auto Light Dark ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. This story first ran in Dispatches, our weekly newsletter from our reporters about their recent investigations. Sign up to receive stories like this one in your inbox every Saturday.
I file a lot of Freedom of Information Act requests. I’ve been requesting staff lists from both Trump administrations, and I have tracked thousands of federal political appointees in order to publish financial disclosures in searchable databases .
Much of that data was sourced from the Office of Personnel Management, which maintains a trove of information about who works in the federal government. But that agency’s FOIA department was thrown into chaos as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency fanned out across federal agencies to cut employees in early 2025.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in