FOIA Demand Surges Amid Staffing Cuts: Navigating Compliance Risks and Legal Challenges

Welcome to the CaseGuard Records Brief for the week of May 4th through 8th, 2026. This week, we're diving into the latest developments impacting records professionals. First, federal FOIA demand is on the rise, with a 14% increase in requests from FY2024 to FY2025, while staffing has decreased by the same percentage. Agencies like OMB, Veterans Affairs, and CFPB are experiencing significant surges. The takeaway? It's time to compare your agency's numbers to these trends and prepare for budget discussions. Next, the Department of Health and Human Services is restructuring to handle increased workloads by consolidating FOIA Requester Service Centers and hiring additional staff. This model of consolidation and shared systems could be a strategy for your agency to consider. In legal news, two Oklahoma newsrooms are challenging whether state agencies can defer disclosure obligations to federal partners. This case could impact how intragovernmental agreements are treated under state law. Finally, the federal records preservation regime is under scrutiny. The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel has declared the Presidential Records Act unconstitutional, affecting how records are preserved. Agencies should review their own preservation policies, especially regarding text messages and ephemeral communications. That's it for this week's brief. Check the episode notes for links to the source material. 📚 Sources: https://www.foiaadvisor.com/foia-blog/2026/5/7/foia-news-feds-received-17-million-requests-in-fy-2025-reports-doj https://www.hhs.gov/foia/reports/chief-foia-officer-reports/2026-section-2/index.html https://www.readfrontier.org/stories/two-oklahoma-newsrooms-take-the-department-of-corrections-to-court-over-ice-records/ https://www.foiaadvisor.com/foia-blog/2026/5/5/foia-news