After promising transparency, RFK Jr. guts public records teams at HHS
Another LIE from Kennedy.
After promising transparency, RFK guts public records teams at HHS
Among the thousands of layoffs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services this week were many staff who handled public records requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/04/03/g-s1-57888/hhs-fda-rfk-foia-public-records?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
April 3, 20255:02 AM ET Sydney Lupkin
Teams that fulfilled requests for government documents lost their jobs on Tuesday as part of the Trump administration's 10,000-person staff cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services. Their work, mandated by Congress since the 1960s under the Freedom of Information Act or FOIA, gives the public a view of the inner workings of federal health agencies.
Some public records teams were entirely cut at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and other agencies on Tuesday, according to multiple current and former staffers who did not want to be named because of fears of retribution. A few people have been left standing on other FOIA teams within these agencies, for now.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has promised "radical transparency," but the firings suggest that promise is a "lie," says Jason R. Baron, a former director of litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration and current professor at the College of Information at the University of Maryland.
The layoffs of FOIA staff will "exponentially" increase backlogs and delays for health-related public records requests, he predicts.
"They are the American people's records, and there should be adequate FOIA staff to make sure that record requests are answered promptly," he says. "Firing your staff is antithetical to openness and transparency."
Congress passed the Freedom of Information Act to increase government transparency. It mandates that federal agencies allow members of the public to request and receive records created and maintained by government agencies.......................
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