Records (or portions of records) will be disclosed unless that disclosure harms an interest protected by a FOIA exemption. The nine FOIA exemptions are cited in the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. §552 (b)(1) through (b)(9):
- (b)(1)--records currently and properly classified in the interest of national security;
- (b)(2)--records related solely to internal personnel rules and practices which if released would allow circumvention of an agency function;
- (b)(3)--records protected by another law that specifically exempts the information from public release;
- (b)(4)--trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a private source which would cause substantial competitive harm to the source if disclosed;
- (b)(5)--internal records that are deliberative in nature and are part of the decision making process that contain opinions and recommendations;
- (b)(6)--records which if released would result in a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;
- (b)(7)--investigatory records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes;
- (b)(8) and (b)(9) are not applicable to NRO records.