Making FOIA requests a core part of your investigations can yield some incredibly valuable and impactful data for your stories. I've found that it's essential to be strategic about how you submit these requests and what you're requesting. Don't just send out a blanket FOIA request - that's a recipe for a lengthy and potentially costly process with a poor return on investment.

One thing I like to emphasize is the importance of clear specificity in crafting your FOIA requests. This means being detailed and precise about what you're asking for, rather than just hoping the agency might "throw something your way." Think about what data points would be most relevant to your investigation and what agencies are likely to have access to that information. A well-crafted FOIA request is a powerful tool if you can use it strategically.

Another thing I've learned is that the real value in a FOIA request often lies in what you don't get, at least initially. That is, it's easy to get excited about a single, incriminating email or document, but the real power in these requests often lies in the larger patterns and trends that emerge from reviewing thousands of pages of documents. This is why it's so critical to have a solid plan in place for how you'll sift and analyze all that data once you start receiving it.