FOIA’s honor system is failing congressional oversight

In April, David Morens, a senior adviser to Anthony Fauci, was indicted on charges of allegedly destroying government records tied to COVID-19 origins research. According to the indictment, he deleted official communications and used personal email to evade Freedom of Information Act requests — even describing how to make emails “disappear” before searches began.

It is an extreme case. But it exposes a problem that should concern every member of Congress: FOIA operates, in practice, as an honor system.