How do you use FOIA to get records like White House photographs released?
File a specific written request with the office that holds the records, name the record type, the people, the place and the metadata you want, and track it by case number. My request to the Obama Presidential Library, case 24-09538-F, freed 3,951 Situation Room photographs and 3,851 electronic files, free to download.
- My FOIA request, Obama Library case 24-09538-F, freed 3,951 Situation Room photographs and 3,851 electronic files from January 2009 through July 2010.
- The winning formula: name the record type, the people, the place and the time, and ask for the metadata. The metadata came back as spreadsheets with dates, photographers and original captions.
- The library withheld 1,208 images, most as confidential presidential advice (P5) or classified information (P1/(b)(1)).
- Free downloads are web-size. Publication-quality copies are ordered from the library by “P” number, at $14 to $17 per image.
- Withheld isn’t final: each withdrawal sheet gives the frame number you need to request a declassification review, and P5 restrictions on Obama records end by January 2029.
Yes, you can pry remarkable material loose with the Freedom of Information Act. I did. My request to the Barack Obama Presidential Library, logged as case 24-09538-F, pulled 3,851 electronic files and thousands of photographs out of the White House Situation Room: terrorism threat briefings, National Security Council meetings, video calls with foreign leaders and sessions on Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and North Korea.
The National Archives processed about 5,159 images for the first segment of the request and released 3,951 of them in full, according to the library’s response letter. Every released photo is now free to download, and each comes with the date, the photographer and the caption the White House Photo Office wrote at the time.
This guide shows how the request was built, what came back, how to read the codes on what was withheld and how to file your own.
What Is FOIA, and What Changes for Presidential Records?
The Freedom of Information Act lets any person ask a federal agency for its records. The agency must search, release what it can and cite a specific exemption for anything it withholds. You don’t have to give a reason.
The White House itself is not an agency under FOIA. A president’s records are governed by a separate law, the Presidential Records Act, which makes them public property. When a president leaves office, the National Archives takes custody. Five years later, the public can request them under FOIA, and the president’s library does the work.
Two sets of codes apply. The Presidential Records Act has six restrictions, P1 through P6, plus “PRM” for personal records filed by mistake. FOIA has its own exemptions, written (b)(1) through (b)(9). Many withheld records carry a code from each list, such as P1/(b)(1) for classified information. The National Archives also notifies the former and the incumbent president before it releases presidential records.
How to File a FOIA Request That Works, in Six Steps
Step 1: Find Who Holds the Records
Ask the office that has the records. For an agency, that is its FOIA office. For presidential records, it is the presidential library: the Obama Library takes requests through its online FOIA page. Search the library’s digital research room first. Someone may already have asked.
Step 2: Describe the Records Precisely
Name four things: the record type, the people, the place and the time. Then ask for the data that describes each record. My request in case 24-09538-F, as the library summarized it, sought “all photographs of President Obama or Vice President Biden in the situation room, as well as the associated date/time groups and metadata of the photo.”
That one sentence did three jobs. It named a record type archivists can search: White House photographs. It named a place that shows up in photo captions: the Situation Room. And it asked for the metadata, which turned thousands of pictures into a searchable, dated record.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, and the Presidential Records Act, 44 U.S.C. §§ 2201–2209, I request all photographs of [person or people] taken in [place] from [start date] through [end date], together with the associated date/time groups and all metadata for each photograph, including the caption, photographer and frame number. Please provide the records in electronic form. I am a [news media / educational / other] requester.
Keep the subject specific and searchable. Archivists search captions, places and dates; vague words such as “all communications about” invite delays and fee estimates.
Step 3: File It and Log the Case Number
Submit in writing and keep the acknowledgment. The case number is your handle for everything that follows: status checks, appeals and, eventually, finding the release online. Large requests move in pieces. The library is answering this one in segments by date. The first covers January 21, 2009, through July 31, 2010.
Step 4: Read the Response Line by Line
The response letter tells you how much was processed, how much was released and why the rest was held back, code by code. The worked example below walks through a real one.
Step 5: Download the Free Copies, Then Order What You Need
Released Obama Library records are free to download from the library’s digital research room and the National Archives Catalog. Those free copies are for research and the web. For publication-quality images, you order from the library or work with its archivists. The section on finding and ordering records below has the exact steps.
Step 6: Push for What Was Withheld
Withheld isn’t always final. You can appeal, ask for a declassification review of specific classified items, bring in the agency’s FOIA Public Liaison or the federal FOIA ombudsman, and, for some presidential-records restrictions, wait out the clock. The advanced moves are below.
The Worked Example: Case 24-09538-F
The Obama Library’s answer to my request came in a seven-page package: a three-page response letter signed by Jill Zawacki, a supervisory archivist at the library, a key to the restriction codes and a finding aid that describes the release.
What Came Back
The library processed approximately 5,159 images and 3,851 electronic files for the first segment. It withheld 1,208 images in whole and released “the remaining 3,951 images and 3,851 electronic files” in whole, the letter says.
The finding aid breaks the photographs into three date ranges:
| Situation Room photos, by date range | Photographs | Released in full | Withheld in full |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 20, 2009–June 30, 2009 | 748 | 543 | 205 |
| July 1, 2009–December 31, 2009 | 1,398 | 1,121 | 277 |
| January 1, 2010–July 31, 2010 | 3,013 | 2,302 | 711 |
Source: Obama Library finding aid for FOIA 24-09538-F, container list.
The finding aid’s three tallies add up to 3,966 released images, fifteen more than the letter’s total. The National Archives Catalog lists 3,951 released photographs under the case number, matching the letter.
The letter closes with the case number, the line every reader can use to check the work.
What the Codes on the Withheld Images Mean
The library listed every reason it withheld images. “Some images may be restricted under more than one category,” the letter says, so the counts add up to more than 1,208.
| Code | Images | What it means |
|---|---|---|
P1 / (b)(1) | 745 | National security information that is properly classified. |
P3 / (b)(3) | 15 | Release would violate a federal statute. |
P5 | 1,178 | Confidential advice between the president and advisers, or between advisers. Presidential Records Act only. |
P6 / (b)(6) | 13 | A clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. |
PRM | 441 | Personal record misfile: a personal, not presidential, record that was filed with official records. |
(b)(7)(F) | 3 | Release could reasonably be expected to endanger someone’s life or physical safety. FOIA only. |
Source: response letter and code key in case 24-09538-F. “P” codes are Presidential Records Act restrictions, 44 U.S.C. § 2204(a); “(b)” codes are FOIA exemptions, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b).
The biggest category is P5, confidential advice to the president, at 1,178 images. Next is P1/(b)(1), classified national security information, at 745. Those two codes are where I, or anyone filing a similar request, can push hardest, as the advanced moves below explain.
What the Metadata Looks Like
Asking for metadata paid off. The library posted a spreadsheet for each date range on the case’s finding-aid page. The January–July 2010 spreadsheet alone has 2,301 rows. Each row gives the White House Photo Office’s frame number, the date the picture was taken, the photographer, the city, the original caption and the photo office’s keywords. Here is a sample.
Two details are worth knowing. First, the “RESTRICTED” keyword is the photo office’s own tag from the time, not a FOIA status: every row in the spreadsheet describes a photo released in full. Second, most captions name everyone in the room, which makes the spreadsheet a who-was-there log for hundreds of national security meetings.
Inside the Release: Situation Room Photographs
Every photograph below was released in full in case 24-09538-F and is listed in the National Archives Catalog under FOIA tracking number 24-09538-F.1. Each caption gives the photo office’s description, the date and the frame number, which links to the catalog record. These are the free, web-size versions, 1,024 pixels wide.
How to Find the Records and Get Publication-Quality Copies
Find the Release
Go to the Obama Library’s digital research room and search the case number, 24-09538-F. The top result is the finding aid for the release. It describes the records and links the three metadata spreadsheets and a zip file of withdrawal sheets for the withheld images.
To see the photographs, search the National Archives Catalog for “24-09538-F” with the quotation marks. Each photo has its own catalog record with the original caption, the date, the frame number and a free download.
Download the Free Versions
The free catalog downloads I pulled are JPEG files 1,024 pixels wide. That is enough for a web story or for research. It isn’t enough for print or a large display.
Order High-Resolution Copies
For high-resolution images, email the library’s photo staff at obama.photos@nara.gov and include each image’s “P” number, the frame number shown in its catalog record and in the metadata spreadsheet. For video, give the date and location. The reproduction fee, according to the letter, is $17 per image for ten or fewer, $14 per image for eleven or more and $25 per video. You can also ask an archivist about working with the records through the library directly.
Advanced Moves: Getting What Was Withheld
Read the Withdrawal Sheets
Where the library pulled an image, it left a withdrawal sheet, and it posted all of them on the finding-aid page. Here are three, as released, for classified Situation Room photographs.
THIS RECORD IS A WITHDRAWAL SHEET Date created: Tue Mar 26 15:29:53 EDT 2024 Releasability: Withheld In Full Reasons for Withholding: ------------------------ P5,b(1),P1 Notes: ------- 2.0.0.419bb5fa-96bb-4016-b353-2fb48376260b P011910PS-0580 Case ID: 24-09538-F
THIS RECORD IS A WITHDRAWAL SHEET Date created: Thu Mar 21 11:35:40 EDT 2024 Releasability: Withheld In Full Reasons for Withholding: ------------------------ P1,b(1),P5 Notes: ------- 2.0.0.426e52ce-cb06-4501-a8b9-e570d819498e P010810PS-0291 Case ID: 24-09538-F
THIS RECORD IS A WITHDRAWAL SHEET Date created: Tue Mar 12 12:38:41 EDT 2024 Releasability: Withheld In Full Reasons for Withholding: ------------------------ P5,b(1),P1 Notes: ------- 2.0.0.443bcc83-439d-4b0f-adea-24d1b6037795 P100709PS-0493 Case ID: 24-09538-F
The key line is the “P” number in the notes. It is the White House Photo Office’s frame number for the missing image, and it follows a pattern: “P,” then the date as month, day and two-digit year, then the photographer’s initials and a frame count. In the January–July 2010 spreadsheet, the six digits after the prefix match the DateTaken column on every photo row, and the initials match the photographer: PS for Pete Souza, CK for Chuck Kennedy and AC for Arun Chaudhary.
By that pattern, P011910PS-0580 was taken January 19, 2010, P010810PS-0291 on January 8, 2010, and P100709PS-0493 on October 7, 2009. Released frames from those days show a terrorism briefing, a National Security Council meeting and a meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan. The sheets alone don’t say which meeting each withheld frame shows.
Ask for a Declassification Review
The 745 images withheld as classified, under P1 and (b)(1), are the strongest target. The letter says the library is no longer automatically sending every classified item in a request to the agencies that own the information, so that it can seek review “more efficiently for those specific records that are of interest to you.”
“Using the information provided on our withdrawal sheets, you can request a declassification review of those specific records of interest to you under your existing FOIA or through the mandatory declassification review provisions of Executive Order 13526,” the letter says.
In practice: pick the withheld frames you care about, list their “P” numbers and the case number, and ask for review. Mandatory declassification review under Executive Order 13526 is a separate route from FOIA with its own appeal path.
Appeal Within Ninety Days
You have ninety calendar days from the date of the response letter to appeal. The letter sets out two tracks:
- Presidential Records Act restrictions go to the Deputy Director of the Obama Library, by email to obama.library@nara.gov or by mail, marked “PRA/FOIA Appeal.”
- FOIA exemptions not paired with a restriction go to the Deputy Archivist of the United States, care of the library, marked “FOIA Appeal.”
Include a copy of the original request and the denial, and explain why the response falls short. The National Archives must notify the former and the incumbent president before releasing anything on appeal, the letter says.
Call in the Liaison or the Ombudsman
Before appealing, you can try to settle the dispute with the National Archives’ FOIA Public Liaison for the presidential libraries, Kate McClure, at libraries.foia.liaison@nara.gov. The Office of Government Information Services, the federal FOIA ombudsman, offers free mediation between requesters and agencies at ogis@nara.gov.
Mark Your Calendar for 2029
The P5 restriction, the reason for 1,178 withheld images, doesn’t last forever. Presidential restrictions can last no more than twelve years from when a president leaves office, the National Archives says. For Obama records, that means January 2029 at the latest. When a restriction lapses, FOIA’s own exemption for internal deliberations, (b)(5), can’t take its place: Congress excluded presidential records from it. A new request then could reach images withheld today only as confidential advice. Images withheld as classified also carry FOIA’s (b)(1) and stay closed until they are declassified.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can file a FOIA request?
Any person. The Freedom of Information Act says records must be made available to “any person” who reasonably describes them and follows the agency’s rules. You don’t need to be a journalist or a U.S. citizen, and you don’t have to say why you want the records.
Are presidential records covered by FOIA?
Yes, through the Presidential Records Act. Presidential records become subject to FOIA requests five years after a president leaves office, and the National Archives answers them through the president’s library. They can be withheld under six Presidential Records Act restrictions, P1 through P6, as well as FOIA’s exemptions.
How much does it cost to get the records?
Downloading released Obama Library records from the library’s digital research room and the National Archives Catalog is free. The free photo copies are web-size. For high-resolution copies, the library’s letter in case 24-09538-F quotes $17 per image for ten or fewer, $14 per image for eleven or more, and $25 per video.
What is a withdrawal sheet?
It is the placeholder the National Archives leaves where it pulls a record. It names the case, the reason codes, such as P1 or b(1), and an identifier for the missing item. For a White House photograph that identifier is the frame number, or “P” number, which you can cite to ask for review of that one image.
Can I get classified photos released?
You can ask. The Obama Library’s letter in case 24-09538-F told me that its withdrawal sheets can be used to request a declassification review of specific classified records, either under the existing FOIA request or through mandatory declassification review under Executive Order 13526. Agencies decide whether the information is still classified.
