Shortly after the 5pm deadline on March 1, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice, whose Office of Information Policy, is responsible for encouraging all agencies to comply with FOIA, released its annual FOIA report for fiscal year 2022. Here are the highlights:
Received 93,370 requests, a 4.2 percent decrease from FY 2021, when it received 97,490 requests.
Processed 82,868 requests, a 9.7 percent increase from FY 2021, when it processed 75,511 requests.
The Executive Office of Immigration Review received the largest number of requests (56,544), and processed the largest number of requests (46,172). The FBI processed more requests (18,350) than it received (18,056).
Received 2,048 appeals, a 21.6 percent decrease from FY 2021, when it received 2,614 appeals
Processed 2,126 appeals, a 23.2 percent decrease from FY 2021, when it processed 2,771 appeals.
Backlogged requests stood at 64,982 at end of FY 2022, compared to 48,959 backlogged requests at the end of FY 2021, a 32.7 percent increase.
Backlogged appeals stood at 321 at end of FY 2022, compared to 378 backlogged appeals at the end of FY 2021, a 15 percent decrease.
For processed perfected requests, the overall department response time was an average of 134 days for “simple” requests and 271.8 days for “complex” requests.
Processing costs were $ 82.9 million and litigation costs were $16.7 million, which is about the same as FY 2021, when department incurred $80.6 million in processing costs and $17.1 million in litigation costs.
Fees collected for processing requests amounted to $33,992, up from $24,032 in FY 2021.