Obama's freedom of information record worse than Bush's

Poynter - Pamela Engel, an Ohio University student intern for the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire in 2011, compiled data from 15 cabinet-level federal departments (Justice Department, Homeland Security, State Department, etc.). By email, she said she found these overall rates for the resolution of FOIA requests:

• 2010 – 62.3% granted, 37.7% denied
• 2009 – 61.7% granted, 38.4% denied
• 2008 – 59.5% granted, 40.6% denied
• 2007 – 76% granted, 24% denied (excluding Veterans Affairs, which had a spike in requests that raised the granted rate up to 91%)
• 2006 – 76.5% granted, 23.5% denied (excluding Veterans Affairs, which which had a spike in requests that raised the granted rate up to 91.5%)

Figures released by the Justice Department show that in 2011, 64.7 percent of FOIA requests were granted in full or in part.