A Reminder on the Use of Still Interested Letters

Nat'l Archives & Records Admin., The FOIA Ombudsman, Aug. 30, 2017

As the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 approaches, we understand that agencies face increased pressure to close old requests and reduce their backlogs. This is also a good time to remind agencies about how to ensure their efforts comply with U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) guidance and best practices.

As we have talked about several times on this blog, the use of “still interested” letters to administratively close FOIA requests is often a sore point for requesters – particularly when the agency’s response to the request has been significantly delayed and the agency provides the requester with very little time to respond. On July 2, 2015, the Office of Information Policy (OIP) at DOJ issued guidance aimed at limiting the use of “still interested” letters, and addressing some of requesters’ frustrations with the practices.

Read more here.