Federal agency FOIA guide · Department of Justice
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
FBI handles federal investigative records and first-party FOIA/Privacy Act requests. The FBI Vault may already contain frequently requested historical records.
Common request topics
investigationscriminalrecords about myselfsurveillancebackground
Where to submit
Mail / email details in FOIAFiler
Email: foiparequest@fbi.gov
Mail:
Record/Information Dissemination Section
Attn: FOIPA Request
Federal Bureau of Investigation
200 Constitution Drive
Winchester, VA 22602
Related request recipes
Federal criminal investigation records
Active investigations and third-party personal information are frequently protected. Narrow requests by event, office, case number, and date.
Agency FOIA logs
FOIA logs are useful for discovering records other people have already requested and for finding repeatable request language.
How to make the request easier to process
- Describe the records, not just the question you want answered.
- Use a specific date range when possible.
- Name the office, event, case number, contract number, facility, or other locator if known.
- List useful record types such as emails, reports, memoranda, photographs, logs, contracts, or policy documents.
- For records about yourself, follow the agency’s identity-verification and Privacy Act instructions.
- Ask for reasonably segregable non-exempt portions if responsive records contain exempt material.
Build it
One agency or several?
If this agency is clearly the custodian, build one request. If the records may be split among several components, Request Bundles can generate a separate letter for each selected agency while keeping the core description consistent.