A FOIA and Declassification Primer
FOIA & DOCUMENTS
April 2026 · Last Reviewed: April 2026
SOURCE NOTES
Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552 (1966); Executive Order 13526 (December 29, 2009); FOIA.gov (U.S. Department of Justice); National Archives declassification guidance; USACE FOIA program (usace.army.mil); FEMA FOIA program (fema.gov); DoD FOIA Handbook; 1999 DoD FOIA release on Raven Rock Mountain Complex; NORAD official fact sheet on Cheyenne Mountain Complex (norad.mil).
Every facility record in the D.U.M.B. Database is grounded in publicly available documentation obtained through legal channels. The Freedom of Information Act, the federal declassification system, and the National Archives constitute the three primary mechanisms through which underground facility records are identified, verified, and graded. This primer documents how each mechanism functions and how researchers can use these tools to obtain primary source records.
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), codified at 5 U.S.C. § 552, was enacted in 1966 and grants any person the legal right to request access to records held by federal agencies. Agencies must disclose requested records unless the information falls within one of nine statutory exemptions. For underground facility research, three exemptions are most frequently invoked: Exemption 1 (classified national security information), Exemption 3 (information prohibited by another federal statute), and Exemption 7 (law enforcement records).
Despite these exemptions, substantial bodies of facility records have been released through FOIA. The 1999 Department of Defense FOIA release concerning the Raven Rock Mountain Complex (Site R) disclosed construction timelines, engineering specifications, and a tenant agency list, documenting President Truman's 1950 approval of the project, the excavation of 500,000 cubic yards of greenstone granite, and the completion of three underground buildings by 1953. The NORAD fact sheet on the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, published at norad.mil, provides officially acknowledged construction costs ($142.4 million), engineering specifications (1,319 steel springs, 25-ton blast doors), and current operational status.
Three federal entities maintain the records most relevant to underground facility research. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) holds engineering plans, construction specifications, contractor records, and as-built drawings for military installations. USACE operates a decentralized FOIA program; requests must be directed to the specific district that managed construction. A directory of all USACE FOIA offices is published at usace.army.mil.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) holds Continuity of Government program records and facility designation documents for installations under its management, including the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center. FEMA FOIA requests are submitted through the agency's SecureRelease portal at fema.gov. FEMA's annual FOIA logs are published at dhs.gov/fema-foia-logs.
The Department of Defense maintains facility records through its component agencies. DoD FOIA requests are processed through the Privacy, Civil Liberties, and Transparency Directorate. Requests should be directed to the managing command — USNORTHCOM for Cheyenne Mountain or the Joint Staff for Raven Rock.
Executive Order 13526, signed on December 29, 2009, governs classification and declassification of national security information. Section 3.3(a) mandates automatic declassification of records more than 25 years old, subject to enumerated exceptions. Any person may also file a Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) request under Section 3.5, compelling an agency to review classified records. If denied, requesters may appeal to the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP), housed within the Information Security Oversight Office at the National Archives (archives.gov/declassification/iscap).
The National Archives at College Park, Maryland, holds multiple record groups pertinent to underground facility construction. Record Group 77 (Records of the Office of the Chief of Engineers) contains military construction project records. Record Group 319 (Records of the Army Staff) encompasses intelligence records and Army command documentation from the Cold War era. Record Group 342 (Records of U.S. Air Force Commands) is relevant to Air Force-managed installations. These record groups are searchable through the National Archives Catalog at catalog.archives.gov.
A FOIA request must reasonably describe the records sought. Effective requests for facility records should specify the installation name or project designation, the geographic location, an approximate date range, and the type of record sought. Requests should be addressed to the FOIA officer at the agency component most likely to hold the records. Most agencies accept electronic submissions through FOIA.gov.
The D.U.M.B. Database applies these public records tools systematically. Every facility record cites its underlying documentation, and the confidence grade reflects the quality and provenance of that documentation. Records supported by declassified government documents, official acknowledgment, and direct physical verification receive the highest grade. Records supported only by unverified claims are graded accordingly and flagged for further research.
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