FOIA Chief Brings Right-Wing Bona Fides to Apolitical DOJ Office
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Search by Topic<br>freedom of information<br>composition of board
The Justice Department’s new overseer of executive branch FOIA records disclosures brings a conservative background working to expose alleged Democratic wrongdoing to a formerly nonpartisan position.<br>Katie Blankenberg was announced as director of the Office of Information Policy last week after spending her entire six-year legal career at Judicial Watch, working on FOIA litigation. The conservative advocacy group known for using the Freedom of Information Act to target Democratic administrations is run by a vocal ally of President Donald Trump.<br>Her arrival is generating concerns among open records advocates and former government FOIA lawyers that Blankenberg may favor document production to Trump-supporting causes and that the office is turning away from stable nonpartisan leadership.<br>Blankenberg is the second new director of the office in less than a year since DOJ leadership terminated its career veteran director in March 2025 and converted the position to a political post. Her predecessor, a former GOP congressional staffer without FOIA experience, lasted eight months before leaving in July for a master’s program. Prior to that, the office had changed leadership only twice in its 30-plus-year history.<br>“OIP has traditionally been led by people who came up through DOJ’s FOIA practice and stayed in the job for many years,” said Allan Blutstein, a former OIP attorney who’s since worked for right-leaning government accountability organizations. “That kind of tenure is what gives a director the standing to shape policy, testify credibly to Congress, and push agencies on compliance.”<br>“What worries me,” Blutstein added, “is that the director position is becoming a short-term political post instead of a career one, and I think that’s a real loss for how the office should operate.”<br>Blankenberg leads a unit processing DOJ’s internal FOIA requests while serving as an arbiter of transparency decisions across government at a time her former employer and allied pro-Trump nonprofits demand her office disclose documents they believe will reveal misconduct by Biden administration officials.<br>While Blankenberg is recusing from Judicial Watch matters, she can still determine whether privacy exemptions require withholding information about Trump officials. She can also approve disclosures for Heritage Foundation-affiliated entities — which have partnered with Judicial Watch — when they request documents pertaining to Democrat-led administrations.<br>“If there’s anything you want from the Biden administration or the Obama administration, now is a great time to ask,” said Ginger Quintero-McCall, a former government public records attorney who’s now partner and co-founder of the Free Information Group. “I expect they’re probably going to double down on the nondisclosure tactics that the Trump administration has taken towards its own materials.”<br>‘Problematic’ Optics
Blankenberg graduated from the University of Texas School of Law and then spent six years with Judicial Watch, which is run by Tom Fitton, who’s been an informal adviser to Trump.<br>She’s regularly sued to compel documents from federal and state governments. That includes an ongoing challenge she filed against DOJ to access materials on investigations into Trump ally and well-known election denier Mike Lindell.<br>She’s since withdrawn from that case and others, while Judicial Watch continues in recent weeks in bringing FOIA lawsuits against DOJ and the FBI, including a July complaint attempting to access all records connected to the late former FBI Director Robert Mueller.<br>“Her team at OIP is aware” of Blankenberg’s Judicial Watch recusals, “and she was proactive in ensuring proper screening from any considerations regarding Judicial Watch,” said DOJ spokeswoman Kiersten Pels. “She will administer the law faithfully and evenhandedly, without regard to the identity or affiliation of any requestor” while working on improving FOIA processes, such as reducing backlogs.<br>When asked how long into Blankenberg’s DOJ service she’d remain walled off from Judicial Watch requests, Pels said it applies to future matters but declined to say if the recusal has an expiration date.<br>Her leadership of a team processing requests from her recent employer still presents public...