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The U.S. Department of Agriculture left a journalist waiting nearly 60 days for a response to Freedom of Information Act appeals—only to finally reveal last week that his requests remain stuck at number 40 out of 60 in the agency’s backlog.
True Signal Media filed ten FOIA requests with USDA seeking records about the agency’s methodology for identifying deceased SNAP recipients and calculating fraud rates. After initial delays, TSM filed administrative appeals in November 2025.
Then: radio silence.
For almost two months, USDA provided no acknowledgment, no status updates, no timeline—nothing. Last week, the agency finally sent an email confirming TSM’s appeals were received and noting the requester’s position in queue: 40th out of 60 pending appeals.
The timing is notable.
While USDA stonewalled a journalist’s records requests about SNAP program integrity, the department was simultaneously demanding that states turn over five years of food stamp recipient data—including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and home addresses for millions of Americans—with just three weeks’ notice.
When 22 states sued over the unprecedented demand, arguing USDA violated federal privacy laws and acted arbitrarily, the agency threatened to cut billions in administrative funding unless states complied immediately.
A federal judge disagreed. On October 15, 2025, Judge Maxine M. Chesney granted a preliminary injunction blocking USDA’s data demand, finding the states were likely to succeed on their claims that the agency acted unlawfully.
Three months later, those same states were back in court. On January 9, 2026, they filed a motion to enforce or expand the preliminary injunction, with declarations from state SNAP administrators in Illinois, Washington, and Kentucky suggesting USDA is attempting new enforcement actions despite the court order. A hearing is scheduled for February 13.
The pattern is clear: USDA demands instant compliance from states while providing no meaningful transparency to the public about how it’s using the data it already collects.
The department has claimed it identified 186,000 deceased individuals receiving SNAP benefits based on data from 29 states. But the agency has never explained its matching methodology, error rates, or how it distinguishes between preliminary database matches and actual fraud.
Those are exactly the questions TSM’s FOIA requests seek to answer.
Secretary Brooke Rollins initially reported finding approximately 5,000 deceased SNAP recipients in early November. Two weeks later, that number had jumped to 186,000—a 3,620% increase with no public explanation of the methodology change.
Court filings in the states’ lawsuit reveal USDA’s own former SNAP director previously stated the agency “does not have the authority to require States to share household information with USDA” beyond what’s specifically required by law. The agency’s June 2025 demand represented a sharp reversal of 60 years of policy.
USDA published a System of Records Notice on June 23, 2025, describing plans for a “National SNAP Information Database” with broad “routine uses” allowing data sharing across federal agencies. The comment period closed July 23.
One day later—before the agency could possibly review 458 public comments—USDA demanded states begin transmitting data.
True Signal Media’s FOIA requests seek to document how USDA made these decisions, what evidence supported the fraud claims, and whether the methodology produces reliable results or simply flags administrative lag as fraud.
Nearly two months after filing appeals, TSM knows only that 19 other requesters are ahead in line.
The USDA FOIA Office did not respond to requests for comment about average processing times for appeals or when TSM might expect substantive responses.
EDITOR’S NOTE: True Signal Media has filed additional FOIA requests with USDA seeking records about the agency’s actions following the October 2025 preliminary injunction. This is an ongoing investigation.