"The federal Freedom of Information Act, which dates to 1966, is intended to give the public information about the Byzantine goings-on inside the United States government.

"It is used by journalists and citizens alike to request documents that might shed light on the government all of us are paying for — the way it grants permits to industry, pays for services after a natural disaster, prosecutes its citizens.

"But the brokenness of the act was illustrated vividly this month when former Times-Picayune Washington correspondent Bruce Alpert received a response to a FOI request he filed 12 years ago related to the prosecution of former U.S. Rep. Bill Jefferson, D-La.

"FOIA requests often pile up for months or years. Too much classification of documents, paper or digital, prevents their access. Secrecy is a fetish of government. Declassification of documents from government archives moves very slowly, even after decades have passed from the original letters or memos. That is a curse for historians as well as journalists and ordinary citizens.

"The Freedom of Information Act is designed to let citizens understand and debate the actions and policies of their government, but that can't happen if the records are released long after the controversy is over.

"'The Freedom of Information Act is broken,' said Anna Diakun, staff attorney with the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. 'Agencies commonly take months or years to respond to even simple requests, and when they do, the records they turn over are often heavily redacted.'

"Alpert's 12-year wait for his records underscores that failure, but at least one federal agency performed up to standards: the Post Office."