FOIA Reading Room

The Freedom of Information Act allows members of the public to request records from various Federal government agencies. The FOIA was established to make the federal government accountable to the public for its actions and prevents agencies from having secret policies.

FOIA amendments signed into law in 1994 added a requirement that agencies must establish an Electronic FOIA (EFOIA) Reading Room. The EFOIA Library contains materials like previously released records, certain agency manuals, and specific agency policy statements.

The information you are requesting may be located in this EFOIA Library. Please check here before submitting a FOIA request.

Proactive Disclosures

Frequently Requested SSA Statistics

Social Security Administration Information & Resources

The Social Security Administration provides a wealth of information online about its services, history, organizational structure and news, including:

In the following sections, you can find more specific information about various aspects of our work.

Acquisitions & Grants

Find information to assist vendors in the acquisition process, information on special programs, and information on SSA acquisitions and grants, including:

Budget and Performance

Find information related to agency budget, performance and financial information, the Annual Performance Plan, the Agency Strategic Plan, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and more.

Disability Adjudication and Review

Find information about the disability hearing, appeals and court processes, including:

Inspector General

Find press releases, audit reports, news releases and the IG’s semi-annual reports to Congress, including:

International Agreements

Since the late 1970's, the United States has established a network of bilateral Social Security agreements that coordinate the U.S. Social Security program with the comparable programs of other countries. This article gives a brief overview of the agreements and should be of particular interest to multinational companies and to people who work abroad during their careers.

Details about Social Security Number Randomization and the High Group List

We implemented SSN Randomization on June 25, 2011. This process assigns SSNs randomly rather than by geographic location. Doing so eliminated the significance of the High Group List, making it ineffective for validating SSNs issued through the random assignment method. Please visit SSN Randomization for more information regarding this change and other effects on the SSN resulting from Randomization.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Social Security Administration receives millions of inquiries every year. These requests include questions about retirement and disability benefits, Medicare benefits, how to request a replacement Social Security Card, and our field office locations and office hours. The ability to provide timely and accurate online answers to these questions is critical.

One means of meeting the public’s expectation of providing accurate, timely, and clear information is our Online Frequently Asked Questions Knowledge Base. The objective of this system is to help the public get online self service access to the information they want or to accomplish the task for which they came to the website.

Frequently Asked Questions Related to FOIA

Social Security Laws, Regulations, and Policies

In addition to legislation and regulations, administrative staff manuals of the Social Security Administration and instructions to staff personnel that contain policies, procedures, or interpretations that affect the public are available for inspection and copying.

You can inspect and copy the following SSA records online, in any field office, at our headquarters in Baltimore, and at SSA hearings offices nationwide.

Laws, Regulations, and Rulings

Administrative Staff Manuals

Legislative & Congressional Affairs

We also publish information on our interactions with the Congress, including:

Open Government Initiative

Open Government

The Social Security Administration's Office of Open Government is committed to sharing and being accountable for information the public wants from us. We provide information and data about the agency, its programs, budget and performance, and public engagement opportunities at our Open Government Portal, including:

While our goal is to become even more open and transparent, we will continue to vigilantly protect the personal information the public entrusts to us. We will ensure that transparency does not put that information at risk.

External Resources