Last month, the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy released its Standard Operating Procedures in response to a FOIA request from GovermentAttic.org. The 83-page production consists of two parts: 15 pages pertaining to administrative appeals and a 68-page “Compliance Team Handbook.”
Of interest, OIP employees are instructed to not use gender pronouns or “Mr.” ”Mrs.” or Ms.” in appeal response letters. Neutral titles such as “Dr.” or “Esq.” are acceptable. For DOJ’s “Sunshine Week” event, a compliance team attorney drafts the OIP Director’s remarks. We appreciate that component heads can get busy, but OIP co-founder Dan Metcalfe must be rolling in his grave. Regarding the “DOJ Guide to the FOIA,” the Handbook states that “[t]here is a rotating, 2-year schedule for regular chapter updates. The goal is to implement more regular and recent changes in case law, owing to increased FOIA litigation.” We can’t help but note that of the 25 Guide chapters, only five have been updated since November 2022. We further note that OIP’s “2-year” schedule should be a “two-year” schedule, according to most style guides (including OIP’s house guide).