Proactive Disclosure
The practice of an agency affirmatively publishing records the public is likely to want, on its own initiative, rather than waiting for individual access requests to be filed.
Proactive disclosure is an agency’s affirmative release of records to the public without waiting for a formal access request. Under U.S. freedom-of-information law, certain categories must be posted online by default, including final opinions and orders, statements of policy, administrative staff manuals, and any records that have already been requested and are likely to be sought again. The principle reflects a “release-to-one, release-to-all” mindset: information of broad interest should reach everyone at once.
For recordkeeping, proactive disclosure depends on disciplined records management. Agencies must reliably identify, retrieve, and redact records, apply consistent metadata so postings are findable, and track which exemptions were applied. Done well, it reduces request backlogs and demonstrates transparency.
The key distinction is initiative: a FOIA response is reactive, triggered by a requester, whereas proactive disclosure is agency-driven publication. For example, posting frequently requested datasets or budget reports on a reading-room page so no one has to ask is proactive disclosure.