Final answer:
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) allows public access to records from U.S. federal agencies but includes nine exemptions for cases where information cannot be disclosed. FOIA does not mandate the release of all government information. Citizens can make requests for documents, but some agencies may be exempt under certain conditions.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was passed in 1966 to promote transparency within the executive branch of the U.S. government. Contrary to the absolute statement in the question, FOIA does not require all government information to be released to the public.
While most federal agencies total received a whopping 772,869 FOIA requests in fiscal year 2020, it's important to note that processing these requests can be a significant administrative task. For example, agencies like the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and Justice received over half of these queries, often resulting in backlogs and challenges in timely disclosure.
It is noteworthy that the government has the obligation under FOIA to regularly post some types of information for public scrutiny without specific requests. The objective of FOIA is to maintain an open government while balancing the need to protect certain categories of information. Citizens can use the provided government portal to start the process of requesting documents.