Page:United States Reports 502 OCT. TERM 1991.pdf/331

 502us1$14I 08-21-96 15:27:02 PAGES OPINPGT

Cite as: 502 U. S. 164 (1991)

173

Opinion of the Court

State Department records that was inconsistent with any public statement made by Government officials, or that there was any other factual basis for questioning the honesty of its officials. Thus, as with the assurances of confidentiality, we have no occasion to question the Government’s version of the relevant facts. We note, finally, that respondents have never questioned the Government’s position that the documents at issue consist of “personnel and medical files and similar files” within the meaning of Exemption 6.8 Because the 17 reports from which identifying information was deleted unquestionably apply to the particular individuals who had been returned and interviewed, they are “similar files” within the meaning of the exemption. See Department of State v. Washington Post Co., 456 U. S. 595, 602 (1982). The only question, therefore, is whether the disclosure of the unredacted interview reports “would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of that person’s privacy.” III The Freedom of Information Act was enacted to facilitate public access to Government documents. John Doe Agency v. John Doe Corp., 493 U. S. 146, 151 (1989). The statute was designed “ ‘to pierce the veil of administrative secrecy and to open agency action to the light of public scrutiny.’ ” Department of Air Force v. Rose, 425 U. S. 352, 361 (1976). Consistently with this purpose, as well as the plain language of the Act, the strong presumption in favor of disclosure places the burden on the agency to justify the withholding of any requested documents. Ibid.; Department of Justice v. Reporters Comm., 489 U. S., at 755. That burden remains with the agency when it seeks to justify the redaction of identifying information in a particular document as well as when it seeks to withhold an entire document. See 5 U. S. C. § 552(a)(4)(B). 8

See n. 6, supra.