Backlogged FOIA requests increased by double digits in fiscal year 2021 at the Department of Defense; Energy; Health & Human Services; Justice; and State, according to quarterly data available on FOIA.gov. The Department of Education, by contrast, was able to reduce its backlog by double digits, while Interior’s backlog increased by only single digits. Here is a breakdown of the preliminary data:
Defense: 11% increase, from 16,000 backlogged requests in 2020 to 17,774 in 2021.
Education: 19% decrease, from 819 backlogged requests in 2020 to 693 in 2021.
Energy: 22.7% increase, from 554 backlogged requests in 2020 to 680 in 2021.
HHS: 14% increase, from 8817 backlogged requests in 2020 to 10,053 in 2021
Interior: 4% increase, from 4100 backlogged requests in 2020 to 4267 in 2021.
DOJ: 38% increase, from 36,018 backlogged requests in 2020 to 50,017 in 2021.
State: 15.8% increase, from 13,798 backlogged requests in 2020 to 15,984 in 2021.
Other cabinets agencies have not yet entered data in FOIA.gov for all four quarters of FY 2021. Agencies were required to provide their FY 2021 annual reports to DOJ’s Office of Information Policy for review by November 15, 2021, and they must post their annual reports online by March 1, 2021.