FOIA News: Spy versus spy

How contractors use FOIA to spy on one another

Tom Temin, Fed. News Network, June 21, 2022

The Freedom of Information Act might be best known as a way for journalists and public interest groups to get information about the operations of government. But it can also be a tool for companies to get confidential information about their competitors. Safeguarding that information has gotten more complicated in the last few years. Because the state of the law around the FOIA exemption that applies to things like trade secrets, it’s all in flux. Nathan Castellano is a special counsel in the government contracts group at Jenner and Block. He wrote a recent briefing paper about these complications and talked about them with Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Read more here.

FOIA News: OGIS annual public meeting next week

The Office of Government Information Services will hold its annual public meeting on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. Registration information and meeting materials are available here.

FOIA News: Are Non-Profit Organizations’ Records Requests Ruining FOIA?

Are Non-Profit Organizations’ Records Requests Ruining FOIA?

By Bernard Bell, Yale J. on Reg., June 19, 2022

Court dockets in this district overflow with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) matters.  Many of those cases seek reams of records, requiring massive efforts from defendant agencies. . . . This is the system Congress hath wrought. And which this Court must dutifully implement.”

American Center for Law and Justice v. DHS, Dkt. No. 21-1364 (D.D.C. Nov. 10, 2021)(McFadden, J.).

In American Center for Law and Justice v. Department of Homeland Security, — F. Supp. 3d —, 2021 WL 5231939 (D.D.C. Nov. 10, 2021), a seemingly run-of-the-mill Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) case, D.C. District Judge Trevor McFadden offered a provocative assessment of FOIA.  “Mismatched incentives,” he observed, encourage nonprofit FOIA requesters to make excessively broad requests and bring excessive litigation.  And given the advent of email, he continued, the short time period agencies have to provide records is hopelessly out of date.  Judge McFadden’s critique may be echoed by other judges, the Department of Justice, or members of Congress.

Read more here.

FOIA News: More on proposed bill to ban foreign FOIA requesters

FOIA Reform We Don’t Need: Blocking Foreigners From Using FOIA

By Mike Masnick Techdirt, June 15, 2022

The US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) system needs plenty of useful reforms to actually work correctly and properly. Despite limited time frames in which the government is required to provide information, they often take years. They regularly redact stuff they shouldn’t. Or refuse to hand over documents they are required to. Generally speaking, the government is not a fan of the kind of transparency that is not just required under the law, but necessary for a functioning government that the public trusts.

Of course, rather than fix any of that… we now have Senators Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton, both of whom have been overshadowed by the bigger, louder, more ridiculous culture warriors in their party, planning to limit FOIA requests only to American citizens, permanent residents and US companies.

Read more here.

FOIA News: FOIA roundtable with the Consumer Product Safety Commission

On June 28, 2022, the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s FOIA staff will hold a public roundtable discussion “to explore common issues arising with FOIA requests. This roundtable will focus on the CPSC FOIA Office’s intake process, including the method for submission, the scope of the request, the agency’s subject matter jurisdiction, fee categories, requests for expedited processing, essential elements of a perfected FOIA request, clarification process, timing, and how requests can be formulated to facilitate the Office’s searches for responsive records.”

More details available here.

FOIA News: Senate bill would ban foreign FOIAs

Senate bill would ban foreign FOIAs

By Lachlan Markay, Axios, June 14, 2022

Republican members of Congress are introducing legislation to bar foreign nationals and entities from obtaining government records under the Freedom of Information Act, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: The bill's sponsors say it would prevent potentially adversarial foreign actors from accessing sensitive government records. FOIA lawyers are writing it off as a solution in search of a problem.

The details: The bill is set to be introduced this week by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).

Read more here.

Copy of draft bill here.

FOIA News: Clock ticking on DOJ summary of 2021 annual FOIA reports

When will the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Privacy release its summary of annual FOIA data for fiscal year 2021? We don’t know. But probably soon. Since 2011, OIP has released its annual summary no later than June nine times. The two outliers involved the FY 2013 summary, which was issued on July 18, 2014, and its FY 2011 summary, which was issued on September 6, 2012.

In the meantime, the raw data is available on FOIA.gov. A summary of the data is available in a FOIA Advisor post dated March 3, 2022.

FOIA News: FOIA Advisory Committee approves final report

FOIA advisers recommend independent review into how DHS handles immigration record requests

By Justin Doubleday, WFED, June 9, 2022

Congress should fund an independent review into how the Department of Homeland Security handles immigration records requests, one of the largest drivers of the Freedom of Information Act backlog, according to an advisory group.

The FOIA Advisory Committee approved its final report for the 2020-2022 term on Thursday. The committee is now seeking applications for new members ahead of the first meeting of the 2022-2024 term in September.

The committee’s final report digs into a range of legislative, technology and process recommendations, including suggestions for how to improve “first-person requests,” where individuals seek access to government records on themselves.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Final meeting of the 2020-2022 FOIA Advisory Committee

The FOIA Advisory Committee for the 2020-2022 will meet for the final time on Thursday, June 9, 2022., at 10am. Committee members will consider and vote on its final report and recommendations. View the proceedings live here.

FOIA News: FOIA Advisory Committee seeks nominees for 2022-2024 term

The National Archives and Records Administration is will be accepting nominees for membership on the 2022-2024 term of the Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee, according to notice to be published in the Federal Register on June 8, 2022. Nominations must be received by Thursday, June 30, 2022.