Are you or a client faced with a request for information from a federal agency, or are you seeking information from an agency? This comprehensive guide describes the vast maze of laws, regulations, and orders that govern information from the U.S. government. Beginning with an accessible explanation of the most well-known of these statues, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), author P. Stephen Gidiere III provides useful tools such as checklists and information on how to submit a successful FOIA request. The book considers all other federal laws dealing with information handling and disclosure, such as the Federal Records Act, the Paperwork Reduction Act, and the Classified Information Procedures Act, plus other statutes, cases, regulations, judicial decisions, executive orders, and policies. In addition, it touches on other critical aspects of accessing federal information, including litigation over federal records, homeland security, electronic records, classified information, the trend toward more government secrecy, and recent Supreme Court and appellate decisions under the FOIA and other statutes. Includes glossaries of abbreviations and federal information statutes; a table of cases; appendices; checklists; and public website resources.