Freedom of Information and Privacy Act (FOIPA)

Introduction

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has been in effect since 1967.  The FOIA generally provides that any person has a right, enforceable in court, to obtain access to federal agency records, except to the extent that such records (or portions of them) are protected from public disclosure by one of nine exemptions or by one of three special law enforcement exclusions.

Requests

Requests for information pursuant to the Freedom of Information (FOI) and Privacy Act (PA) should be directed in writing to FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., or to any FBI field office which could maintain the records you seek. A complete listing of FBI Field Offices and their addresses may be found on the FBI Home Page. The envelope containing your request should be addressed to the FOI/PA Section at FBI Headquarters (935 Pennsylvania Ave. Northwest, Washington D.C. 20535) or, in the case of requests to the field offices, contain the notation "Freedom of Information Request" on the front of the envelope.

Information about yourself

If you are requesting information about yourself, you must provide, at a minimum, your full name, date and place of birth and mailing address. You may also want to provide aliases, nicknames, prior addresses and places of employment, or any other information you believe would assist in conducting an accurate search of our records. If you have an FBI file number, you should provide that as well. To ensure that documents are released only to persons with a right of access to the information, your signature should be notarized or, in lieu of a notarized signature, you may submit a declaration pursuant to Title 28, U.S. Code, Section 1746. If you are making a request through your attorney or another person, they should submit your signed, notarized authorization for the FBI to forward any responsive information to them.

Information about another individual

Request for information regarding someone other than yourself must be accompanied by proof of death, i.e. a copy of a death certificate or a newspaper obituary, or a privacy waiver signed by the individual who is the subject of your request. The Privacy Waiver should be signed in the presence of a notary. You should provide as much information as possible about the individual who is the subject of your request, including their full name, aliases, nicknames, date and place of birth, addresses, employment or other information you believe may be helpful in conducting an accurate search.