Foreign lobbyist database goes online

The Department of Justice (DoJ) posted the initial workings of its foreign lobbyist database online Tuesday.

{mosads}The agency’s website, at http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fara/links/search.html , is still not finished as of yet though.

“It is undergoing final testing,” said Dean Boyd, a DoJ spokesman.

Initial searches of the database show it does link to substantial documents, such as contracts between lobbyists and foreign governments as well as advocates’ reports listing contacts between them and policymakers.

The records are compiled under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Passed in 1938 to register propaganda by German Nazi agents before World War II, the act now keeps track of lobbying and public relations efforts by foreign governments and politicians.

Users are invited to offer feedback at the website. Once it is complete, Boyd expects DoJ will put out a press release to announce the new feature.