FOIA News: FOIA Advisory Committee meeting

The FOIA Advisory Committee is meeting virtually on Thursday, March 10, 2022, from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Members of the public may attend if registered by March 8, 2022. Additional information is available here.

FOIA News: FOIA makes appearance in NYT crossword

The March 6th crossword puzzle of the New York Times used “FOIA” as the four-letter answer to the hint “Records request inits.” See 98 across below.

FOIA News: Sunshine Week events

Sunshine Week will be observed this year from March 13, 2022, through March 18, 2022. Three virtual events have been schedule by federal agencies.

On March 14, 2022, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., the Department of Justice will host its twelfth annual Sunshine Week event, which will be broadcast via livestream.

On March 14, 2022, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., the National Archives and Records Administration will livestream a conversation moderated by philanthropist David M. Rubenstein between the Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero and the Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden.

On March 16, 2022, the Department of Commerce’s Office of Privacy and Open Government is hosting a virtual Annual Sunshine Week Event & Expo. This event features a full day of sessions and a virtual vendor hall.

FOIA News: Chief FOIA Officer Reports for FY 2022 to be posted shortly

The Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy will soon post Chief FOIA Officer Reports for fiscal year 2022 from all federal agencies, according to a government source who contacted FOIA Advisor. A few reports can now be found on agency websites:

• Social Security Administration

• Commodity Futures Trading Commission

• Dep’t of Health & Human Serv.

• Dep’t of Transportation

• Inter-American Foundation

DOJ/OIP will post Chief FOIA Officer Reports here.

FOIA News: DOJ issues 2021 litigation and compliance report

The Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy has released its FOIA 2021 litigation and compliance report. Among other information, DOJ reported that 608 FOIA decisions were issued by federal district courts during calendar year 2021.

FOIA News: New virtual training dates announced by OIP

OIP ANNOUNCES NEW FOIA TRAINING DATES FOR SPRING AND SUMMER

DOJ/OIP. FOIA Post, Mar. 3, 2022

Today, the Office of Information Policy (OIP) announces new dates for FOIA training for the months of March through July.  As part of its responsibility to encourage agency compliance with the FOIA, OIP offers several training opportunities throughout the year for agency FOIA professionals and individuals with FOIA responsibilities.  These courses have been designed to offer training opportunities for personnel from all stages of the FOIA workforce, from new hires to the experienced FOIA professionals or FOIA managers.  OIP will continue to offer virtual training sessions that will be taught in real-time by OIP instructors.  As we move into the remainder of Fiscal Year 2022, we are pleased to announce these virtual training courses, which are also available on OIP’s Eventbrite page.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Summary of FY 2021 annual reports

We have crunched the data of 118 agencies available on FOIA.gov for fiscal year 2021. Here are the highlights with comparisons to FY 2020:

• 838,164 requests received, an increase of 6 percent from FY 2020 (790,688 requests)

• 838,668 requests processed, an increase of 8.5 percent from FY 2020 (772,869 requests)

• 15,468 appeals received, an increase of 3.5 percent from FY 2020 (14,943 appeals)

• 15,522 appeals processed, an increase of 1.8 percent from FY 2020 (15,244 appeals)

• 153,227 backlogged requests, an increase of 8 percent from FY 2020 (141,762 requests)

• 4,734 backlogged appeals, a decrease of 6.7 percent from FY 2020 (5,072 appeals)

• $38.5 million litigation costs a decrease of 10.1 percent from FY 2020 ($42.8 million)

• $522.8 million administrative processing costs, a decrease of 5.4 percent from FY 2020 ($552.9 million)

• $2.09 million fees collected from requesters, a decrease of less than 1 percent from FY 2020 ($2.11 million)

The largest number of requests were received by the following agencies:

1. Dep’t of Homeland Security: 442,650 requests (52.8 percent of government’s overall total)

2. Dep’t of Justice: 97,490 requests (11.6 percent)

3. Dep’t of Defense: 52,805 requests (6.3 percent)

4. Dep’t of Health & Human Services: 33,158 requests (3.9 percent)

5. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs: 27,762 requests (3.3 percent)

6. Dep’t of Agriculture: 20,956 requests (2.5 percent)

7. Small Business Administration: 18,127 requests (2.1 percent)

8. Dep’t of Transportation: 15,740 requests (1.8 percent)

9. Equal Employment Opportunity Comm’n.: 15,320 (1.8 percent)

10. Dep’t of Labor: 13,560 (1.6 percent)

Of note: in FY 2020, the National Archives and Records Administration occupied the fifth spot with 25,738 requests received. That figure dropped to 7,725 requests (the fifteenth spot) in FY 2021.

FOIA News: DOD releases annual report

The U.S. Department of Defense released its annual FOIA report for fiscal year 2021, which reportedly cost the agency $158,000 to prepare. Highlights include:

• 52,805 requests received, a decrease of 2.3 percent from FY 2020 (54,023 requests)

• 50,703 requests processed, an increase of 1.4 percent from FY 2020 (50,006 requests)

• 17,597 backlogged requests, an increase of 10 percent from FY 2020 (16,000 requests)

• 32.03 average days to process simple requests, an increase of 36 percent from FY 2020 (25.55 days)

• 351.61 average days to process complex requests, an increase of 55.5 percent from FY 2020 (226.12 days)

• Total FOIA costs: $105,262,515, a 10.2 percent increase from FY 2020 ($95,483,885)

FOIA News: Interior IG release report on "awareness review process"

IG: FOIA ‘awareness program’ troubled some Interior staff

By Michael Doyle, E&E News, Mar. 1, 2022

A Trump-era FOIA policy at the Interior Department caused some professionals to worry that “political considerations” were hampering the release of information, the department’s watchdog agency reported today.

In a long-anticipated report, Interior’s Office of Inspector General noted that the Trump administration’s ”awareness policy” for Freedom of Information Act requests “contained unclear language, which led to review-related delays and disagreements about records” as well as confusion about the policy’s requirements.

“FOIA professionals expressed the belief to us that actions taken pursuant to the awareness policy were prompted by political considerations,” the OIG reported. “The policy’s lack of clarity and the lack of guidance on how it should be applied may well have contributed to this perception.”

Read more here.

FOIA News: DOJ releases annual report and links to other agency reports

On the day of its filing deadline, the U.S. Department of Justice posted its annual report for fiscal year 2021. Notable metrics are as follows:

• 97,490 requests received, an increase of 12.4 percent from FY 2020 (86,729 requests)

• 75,511 requests processed, a decrease of 10.6 percent from FY 2020 (84,442 requests)

• 49,959 backlogged requests, an increase of 66.9 percent from FY 2020 (29,933 requests)

• 51 median days to process simple requests, an increase of 54.4 percent from FY 2020 (33 median days)

Links to other agency reports are listed on DOJ’s website here.