How does an agency decide which parts of a record are reasonably segregable and must be released?

When you request records under the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), an agency cannot simply withhold an entire document because one part of it is sensitive. FOIA requires the agency to release any “reasonably segregable” portion of a record after removing the material that falls under a specific exemption. In practice, this means an agency reviews a record line by line and discloses everything it can.

What “reasonably segregable” means

A record often contains a mix of releasable and exempt information. The segregability rule directs an agency to separate the two and provide the parts that are not exempt. Information that can be meaningfully separated and disclosed without revealing the protected content is considered reasonably segregable. The agency may not claim that exempt and non-exempt material are too “intertwined” unless that is genuinely the case.

How the agency decides

Agencies generally work through these steps:

• Identify exempt material. The agency determines which information falls under one of FOIA’s nine exemptions (for example, personal privacy, law enforcement, or properly classified national security information).
• Redact only what is necessary. Exempt text is blacked out or removed, while the surrounding non-exempt content stays in place.
• Assess what remains. If the leftover material is intelligible and does not disclose protected information, it must be released.
• Explain the withholding. When the agency withholds or redacts, it should tell you which exemption applies and, where feasible, indicate the amount of information withheld.

Material is not segregable when releasing it would effectively expose the exempt content, or when what remains is only meaningless words and fragments.

What this means for requesters

You will often receive documents with visible redactions rather than a flat denial. If you believe an agency withheld more than the exemptions allow, you can file an administrative appeal and, if needed, seek assistance with the dispute. To learn more about how these rules fit together, see our overview of FOIA and public records.

Note that the federal FOIA generally gives agencies 20 business days to respond, and that state public-records laws have their own segregability standards, exemptions, and timelines, which vary from state to state.