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# RFK Jr. Restoring FDA’s Freedom of Information Office
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/rfk-jr-restoring-fdas-freedom-of-information-office/
- Published: 2025-04-25T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T15:10:21.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: FDA Policy/General, #legacy-id-D5159069

HHS secretary **Robert F. Kennedy Jr.** earlier this week vowed to restore FDA’s and other health agencies’ Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) offices that were gutted earlier this month under White House-mandated staff cuts. The removal of FOIA offices appeared to go against previous Kennedy promises of “radical transparency.”

“We are restoring all of the FOIA offices, and we’re going to try to make it much easier for people to get the information,” Kennedy said at an HHS press conference on eliminating food dyes. “We’re going to try to post as much as we can,” Kennedy said. “We’re going to start a Web site with all former FOIA requests and the documents that were produced so people don’t have to do it again and again. We’re going to try to get as close as we can to total transparency in this agency.”

In announcing the FOIA reversal, Kennedy recalled personally his struggles in obtaining information government agencies. “I spent a lot of years litigating under FOIA, and I experienced the frustration of going year after year and being stonewalled by the agencies,” Kennedy added. “A lot of the people who are at HHS right now come from that background. So we all understand how important it is to have clear communication.”

Asked to clarify the offices' structure, an HHS official told ***FDA Webview*** 4/25 that “the FOIA offices throughout the Department were previously siloed, and did not communicate with one another. Under secretary Kennedy’s vision for a more efficient HHS, these offices will be streamlined, and the work will continue.”

Meanwhile, HHS officials now say they are reviewing recent reduction-in-force cuts at all health agencies to determine if critical posts were cut. The review comes as the department is admitting mistakes and reversing its earlier decision to fire a few dozen scientists at FDA’s food-safety labs, according to the [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/25/health/fda-food-safety-trump-layoffs.html?ref=fdaweb.com). An HHS spokesman said employees called back had been inadvertently fired because of inaccurate job classification codes.