CanallFOIA Request Triage.
An agent that routes a FOIA request, finds the responsive records, and proposes redactions by exemption — for human approval before anything releases. Air-gapped end to end.
In plain terms: an AI agent for FOIA request triage — responsive-record discovery and redaction-by-exemption, with an approval path before release.
Dense, inconsistent documents arrive by the hundred. Someone reads each one, lifts the facts that matter, and keys them into the several legacy systems that each hold a piece of the record. FOIA is the version of this where the document is the record — and the only way to do more of it has ever been to hire more people to do more of it.
The agent reads the request, finds the responsive records, and proposes redactions tied to specific statutory exemptions. A reviewer approves the redaction set before anything releases. The release package is auditable, line by line — which is the only way an agency can run this at volume without losing the audit.
“Nothing is sent anywhere to be read — which is the only reason data this sensitive can be automated at all.”
How the agent runs.
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01
Route the request
Read the FOIA request, classify it, and route it to the right component of the agency — with the statutory clock started.
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02
Find responsive records
Search the document corpus for responsive records, scoped to what the request actually asks for. False positives are cheaper than misses; both go to the reviewer.
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03
Propose redactions by exemption
For each responsive record, propose redactions tied to a specific statutory exemption (b1 through b9 and the agency-specific carve-outs). Never a black box.
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04
Approve before release
A reviewer approves the redaction set before anything releases. The agent is the preparer; the reviewer is the releaser.
Air-gapped by construction.
FOIA triage touches records the agency is legally required to protect. The agent runs air-gapped — no outbound path at all. The documents, the responsive records, and every system credential stay behind the wall. That is not a configuration choice; it is the only reason this kind of automation is defensible. The same platform runs in three other perimeter shapes if your risk model allows them, and the agent library is identical across all four.
Related patterns.
Questions we hear.
- Does the agent decide what gets released?
- No. It proposes redactions tied to specific statutory exemptions and hands the package to a reviewer. A person approves the redaction set before anything releases. The agent is the preparer; the reviewer is the releaser.
- Which FOIA exemptions does it handle?
- The library is structured around the standard FOIA exemptions (b1 through b9) and the agency-specific carve-outs that attach to them. Each proposed redaction carries the exemption it relies on, so the reviewer can audit the package line by line.
- Can it run air-gapped?
- Yes — and for most agency deployments, it should. The documents, the responsive records, and every system credential stay behind the wall. Nothing is sent anywhere to be read, which is the only reason data this sensitive can be automated at all.