Intel Agencies Lack ‘Adequate Tech’ for FOIA Requests
Aaron Boyd, NextGov, Nov. 19, 2018
If the intelligence community wants to lessen its information request backlog and avoid lawsuits, the agencies need to make better use of technology and stop applying an “industrial age process … to a digital age challenge.”
A Sept. 28 report from the intelligence community inspector general released publicly last week found the agencies’ processes for responding to requests under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, is inefficient and will continue to lead to growing backlogs and litigation if not improved. Among the issues is a lack of “adequate technology” to support processing FOIA requests.
Technology is being used to manage FOIA requests across the IC, though not uniformly. The inspector general looked at 10 standard use cases for technology in this area and found only the CIA was using those tools in every instance. Other agencies hit most of the areas of effort, though two, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, only showed progress in five and six areas, respectively.
Among the technologies, all six agencies reviewed were using tools to help with search, redaction and interagency referrals and consultations. On the low end, only three agencies—CIA, National Reconnaissance Office and the National Security Agency—were using technology to help with archive and retrieval of prior releases and for converting or otherwise preparing documents for dissemination.
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