The Right to Privacy and the Public's Right to Know: The "Central Purpose" of the Freedom of Information Act

T he Freedom of Information Act (FOIA or the Act) permits "any person" to obtain access to all federal agency records, subject only to nine enumerated exemptions.'This unprecedented right of access to government documents reflects the importance of information in a democracy.As James Madison wrote: "A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both.Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."'FOIA is intended to provide the citizenry with the knowledge necessary to govern.Although there is no single statement in the Act's legislative history of the necessary extent of that knowledge, it is clear that Congress envisioned at least three roles of the electorate for which the Act was designed to guarantee access to government information.First and most important, the FOIA plainly facilitates the watchdog function of the public over the government: The public must have access to the government information necessary to ensure that government officials act in the public interest."This watchdog function," writes Glenn Dickinson, "was perhaps the principal inspiration for the FOIA and has remained its symbolic central pillar."'Second, in addition to empowering the citizenry with the knowledge necessary to evaluate the conduct of government officials, the FOIA was intended to assure the public's access to government information concerning public policy.4 "Citizens enjoy the benefits or suffer the consequences of public policy, so they should be able to draw their own conclusions regarding the effectiveness of that policy.The FOIA allows them to undertake this independent evaluation." 5 Third, the 1. 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(3) (1988).The nine exemptions permit an agency to protect from disclosure information including records pertaining to national security, internal agency rules, matters exempted from disclosure by other federal acts, trade secrets, interor intra-agency memoranda (which includes the executive privilege), personnel and medical files, records compiled for law enforcement purposes, matters concerning the operation of financial institutions, and geological information.Id. § § 552(b)(l)-( 9).2. Letter from James Madison to W. T.