Public Citizen v. Department of State

The Trump Administration has stated that it intends to make health assistance contingent upon its foreign policy priorities, such as access to other nations’ mineral and other natural resources. The Administration has reportedly entered into dozens of bilateral health assistance agreements with foreign countries. The State Department briefly posted, but then removed, the text of five of those agreements, which Public Citizen retained and posted here.

Public Citizen submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the State Department for copies of several of those health agreements, along with supporting documentation. In April 2026, we filed suit under FOIA to compel production of the requested records. Information about that lawsuit is available here.

As the State Department continued to announce new bilateral health agreements, Public Citizen submitted additional FOIA requests seeking copies of those agreements. For months, the State Department failed to respond to those requests. We filed a follow-on suit on August 24, 2026, to compel production of those records.