FOIA News: IRS defends use of biometric verification for online FOIA filers

IRS defends use of biometric verification for online FOIA filers

By Rebecca Heilweil, FedScoop, June 10, 2024

A few years ago, the Internal Revenue Service announced that it had begun using the identity credential service ID.me for taxpayers to access various online tools. At some point between then and now, the IRS quietly began directing people filing public records requests through its online portal to register for the private biometric verification system.

Though Freedom of Information Act requests to the tax agency can still be filed through FOIA.gov, the mail, by fax, or even in person, the IRS’s decision to point online filers to ID.me — whose facial verification technology has, in the past, drawn scrutiny from Congress — has raised some advocates’ eyebrows.

Read more here.

FOIA: Reporters Committee Releases Analysis on Use of "Glomar"

We FOIA’d every federal agency for their ‘Glomar’ responses. Here’s what we learned.

By Shawn Musgrave and Adam A. Marshall, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Mar. 15, 2024

In the summer of 2022, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press started an ambitious project to remedy the informational deficit surrounding Glomar, using (of course) FOIA requests. Specifically, the Reporters Committee wrote FOIA requests asking for response letters from agencies to requesters that included a number of phrases associated with the Glomar response and sent between fiscal years 2017 and 2021. The requests also gave agencies the option to simply report the number of Glomar responses issued each fiscal year, along with the exemption they were tied to. The Reporters Committee submitted the request to every federal department, agency, and subcomponent thereof across the government, totalling hundreds of submissions.

…

As of Jan. 12, nearly 300 federal agencies or components thereof responded to the Reporters Committee’s FOIA requests by providing data about their use of Glomar denials over the five fiscal years from 2017 through 2021. Combined, these agencies issued a total of more than 5,000 Glomar responses during this period.

Just over a third of agencies that responded identified at least one Glomar denial during this period. The remaining agencies replied they had no responsive documents and/or had not issued a Glomar denial during this period.

Read more here.

FOIA News: With FOIA backlogs on the rise, do agencies need direct-hire authority?

With FOIA backlogs on the rise, do agencies need direct-hire authority?

By Justin Doubleday, Federal News Network, Mar. 7, 2024

With Freedom of Information Act backlogs continuing to rise, a federal advisory committee is advancing some potential solutions to the FOIA staffing challenges that have plagued many agencies.

The FOIA Advisory Committee, during a March 5 meeting, discussed a draft report on “staffing/personnel” from the resources subcommittee.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Judicial Watch Settles State Department Lawsuit that Uncovered Hillary Clinton’s Unsecure, Nongovernment Emails

Judicial Watch Settles State Department Lawsuit that Uncovered Hillary Clinton’s Unsecure, Nongovernment Emails

Judicial Watch, Feb. 27, 2024

Judicial Watch announced today it settled its 2014 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, which sought the emails of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarding the Benghazi attack. This suit led directly to the disclosure of Clinton’s use of a nongovernment email server to conduct government business (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:14-cv-01242). The settlement commits the State Department to a payment to Judicial Watch of $97,000.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Hedge Funds Watching Drug Makers

Hedge Funds Watching Drug Makers

By Randy E. Miller, Law Street, Feb. 15, 2024
Financial firms are continuing to monitor many of the pharmaceutical manufacturers we’ve reported on in recent months, including Krystal Biotech, Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Establishment Labs, Catalent and Astellas.  That’s according to a review of Freedom of Information Act requests made to the Food and Drug Administration during December 2023 and January 2024. 

Read more here.

FOIA News: HUD Refuses To Release Secretary Marcia Fudge's Email Address

HUD Refuses To Release Secretary Marcia Fudge's Email Address in Response to Reason FOIA Request

By C.J. Ciaramella, Reason, Jan. 9, 2024

Want to know Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge's government email address? Too bad, it's a secret.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from Reason, HUD released a list of email addresses for all political appointees—with two exceptions. The agency redacted HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge and Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman's addresses, citing an exemption from releasing any records that would "constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

Read more here.

FOIA News: Agencies Not Keeping Up with FOIA Requests, Report Shows

Agencies Not Keeping Up with FOIA Requests, Report Shows

By Staff, FEDweek, Jan. 3, 2024

A backlog of Freedom of Information Act requests pending at federal agencies “continues to persist, indicating that agencies are not keeping pace with the number of requests received” despite increasing use of exemptions that allow agencies to simply deny requests, the Congressional Research Service has said.

The backlog grew from about 131,000 to about 207,000 over fiscal 2018-2022, it said, despite 2014 recommendations from a special advisory committee of the National Archives and Records Administration to address backlog issues such as including FOIA performance standards in employee appraisals, centralizing FOIA request processing, and adding support staff.

Read more here.

FOIA News: D.B. Cooper's Clip On Tie Not an Agency Record

D.B. Cooper's Clip On Tie

By Legal Profession Prof, Legal Profession Blog, Dec. 14, 2023

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (Judge Cobb) denied a FOIA request, holding that D.B. Cooper's removed tie is not an "agency record."

Holding

For this case, however, it suffices to say that to call a clip-on necktie an “agency record” is not reasonable.

Read more here.

Read the decision here.

FOIA News: Chief FOIA Officers Council Meeting Showcases the Use of Advanced Technologies in FOIA

Chief FOIA Officers Council Meeting Showcases the Use of Advanced Technologies in FOIA

Office of Information Policy, Dec. 14, 2023

The Chief FOIA Officers (CFO) Council met virtually on November 9, 2023.  Associate Attorney General of the United States Vanita Gupta welcomed attendees, thanked agencies for their work on FOIA reporting, and highlighted the new Search Tool on FOIA.gov that will improve the public’s ability to search for previously released FOIA records and to identify appropriate agencies for new FOIA requests.  In previewing the agenda, the Associate Attorney General highlighted the use of technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) to increase automation in record processing as an emerging and promising area, but emphasized the importance of ensuring that there is sufficient human monitoring and that appropriate safeguards are established so that the government is operating consistent with our obligations under FOIA.  Deputy Archivist Debra Steidel Wall from the National Archives and Records Administration also welcomed attendees and emphasized the importance of FOIA as a crucial part of ensuring transparency and accountability.

Read more here.

FOIA News: DoD Finalizes Amendments to FOIA Regulations

The Department of Defense published a rule in the Federal Register amending its FOIA regulations. The rule goes into effect on January 4, 2024 and DoD “determined that public comment is unnecessary before finalizing these amendments as they are administrative and are internal to DoD and the management of DoD's FOIA Program.”