Campaign for Government Transparency
The government works for you. You have a right to know what they’re doing and how they’re doing it.
In April of 2025, the federal government laid off almost 10% of the CDC workforce overnight. Similar firings have been felt across the federal workforce in the months since. These reductions in force were illegal – they were done without required plans and documentation that protect federal workers from unjustified political attacks.
We know that because we asked for those plans. We got… Nothing.
Large portions of the US government have become fully unresponsive to requests for public documents, and we’re figuring out which ones and why.
You have the right to demand transparency from our government, and we can show you how.
Campaign Goals
Train STAND membership to effectively request access to government documents
Broadly interrogate the federal government for its willingness to respond to these requests
Document our findings and take what we learn to The People
Inform elected officials of our findings to demand answers where information is being hidden
Leverage our understanding against other investigations of rights violations
Planning and progress
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Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) and Open Records (OR) requests are a cornerstone approach to obtaining public documents. While available to all, submitting these requests requires some training and guidance. We will train our members to file these requests effectively to uncover information in the public interest.
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With STAND members trained, run an initial probe of the government to dry-run the approach.
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With an understanding of the process, select government agencies across the 15 federal departments (not counting DOGE) including each department’s office of the inspector general.
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Draft FOIA requests designed to interrogate response times, and willingness of individual agencies to work with the public to respond to valid requests. Follow up as needed with non-responders and those that refuse to answer.
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After 2 months (double the legal response time limit), consolidate responses and report the results to the public through media outreach and op-ed writing.
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Work with elected officials to identify broad failures in the release of public records and work with them to lobby for change.
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With knowledge of this process developed, STAND will be primed to apply these techniques strategies to other areas such as ICE contracts, policing policy, detention center planning, and more.
Passionate about holding the government accountable? Interested to make a real impact as an individual from your home?
Our FOIA team has developed the skills and knowledge to help you get answers. Sign up for our newsletter to follow along, take a look at our FOIA resources, and reach out to join!
STAND(at)NDUMC(dot)org
Get involved!
If they don’t respond… WE MOBILIZE!
