It's year two in the era of open government but filing a Freedom of Information Act can still be a frustrating experience.

That's according to a National Security Archive at George Washington University report, which found that only a minority of federal agencies have responded to directives from President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to reform their FOIA practices.

Of the 90 federal agencies researched by the non-governmental research institute, only 13 demonstrated concrete changes in response to a Jan. 21, 2009 executive order directing agencies to adopt a "presumption of disclosure" to FOIA requests and to follow-up on guidance released by the attorney general on March 19, 2009, the report states.

An additional 14 agencies responded with increased training, but another 11 merely circulated the memos and the remaining 52 said they either had no records demonstrating how they've implemented the new directives or simply did not respond to the National Security Archive.

Of the 28 agencies that handle 90 percent of all FOIA requests, the report found no clear upward trend in FOIA disclosures. Some agencies--including the Justice Department--are releasing more documents. Others, including the departments of State, Transportation, Treasury and National Reconnaissance office and NASA, are releasing less.

For more on federal FOIA requests:
- check out the National Security Archive press release and report (.pdf)
- see President Obama's executive order on FOIA (.pdf)
- see Attorney General Eric Holder's March 19 memo on FOIA (.pdf)
- read this Washington Post Federal Eye article on the report. 

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