FOIA News: Peace Corps to amend FOIA regulations

The Peace Corps plans to revise its FOIA regulations as set forth in a proposed rule published in the Federal Register on November 28, 2023. Comments must be received by December 28, 2023.

FOIA News: Recap of CFO Council meeting

Chief FOIA Officers Meeting Recap

By NARA/OGIS, FOIA Ombudsman, Nov. 16, 2023

The Chief FOIA Officers Council (CFOC) met on November 9 to discuss a variety of topics of interest to Chief FOIA Officers and FOIA professionals. Deputy Archivist of the United States, Debra Steidel Wall, and Associate Attorney General of the United States, Vanita Gupta, offered opening remarks to the attendees. You can view the entire meeting on the National Archives YouTube channel. Below is a recap of the meeting. 

• Deputy Assistant Secretary for Global Information Services at the U.S. State Department, Eric Stein, provided a brief overview of two artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning pilots launched at the State Department in the last year. One was on declassification review and the second on processing FOIA requests. 

Read more here.

FOIA News: FOIA backlogs can be reduced with E-discovery, says VP of E-discovery firm

The government’s FOIA policy changes are adding to work levels and requests — but e-Discovery can help

By Amy Hilbert, Casepoint LLC, NextGov/FCW, Nov. 15. 2023

The federal government is working to improve the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) — making it easier to access public records. Attorney General Merrick Garland issued new FOIA guidelines in March, and the Office of Information Policy has updated its FOIA self-assessment toolkit to assist agencies in conducting self-assessments of their FOIA programs.

However, this has led to a growing strain on the staff and budgets of the government agencies and departments that need to comply with FOIA requests.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Nuclear board to amend its FOIA regulations

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has proposed to amend its FOIA fee schedule and four subsections of its fee regulation, according to a notice scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on November 15, 2023. The agency will accept public comments for 30 days.

FOIA News: CFO Council meeting

A recording of the Chief FOIA Officers Council meeting that took place on November 9, 2023, is available online here. It is approximately one hour and 45 minutes long.

FOIA News: FOIA Advisory Commitee meeting on Dec. 7th

The National Archives and Records Administration announced that the federal FOIA Advisory Committee will meet virtually on December 7, 2023, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. More details are available in the Federal Register notice published on November 7, 2023. Meeting materials will be posted by the Office of Government Information Services here.

FOIA News: Air Force FOIA requests may be limited to "clearly releasable" information

First Amendment Advocates Say Air Force Tweak to Public Records Request Process 'Very Troubling'

By Thomas Novelly, Military.com, Oct. 27, 2023

A new change to the Air Force's Freedom of Information Act submission portal, asking whether individuals seeking public information from the service would agree to accept only "clearly releasable" information, is alarming First Amendment advocates and government watchdogs.

Military.com discovered the change to the service's portal this month when submitting what's called a FOIA request for government documents that could be used for news reporting and are legally required to be made public upon request. A newly added question asks the filer to check "yes" or "no" and agree in advance to potential redactions of information before submitting their form online.

Read more here.

[P.S. At least two components of the U.S. Navy also employ the same process, namely the the Office of Naval Research and the Naval Sea Systems Command.]

FOIA News: MuckRock & POGO archive 34k docs from FOIAonline

Here’s why MuckRock and POGO had to archive FOIAonline

Transparency organizations publish nearly 34,000 documents after officials failed to ensure information would remain accessible.

By Freddy Martinez, MuckRock, Oct. 25, 2023

Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) dismantled a vital tool for transparency when it decommissioned FOIAonline.gov, an online resource that allowed the public to make and track Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to over 20 federal agencies, and to view responsive documents. The EPA, which oversaw FOIAonline on behalf of participating agencies, claims to have fulfilled over 1.5 million requests and attracted 34,000 active registered users over the decade-plus that the portal was operating. But while the decommissioning of FOIAonline has been in the works for several years, it still remains unclear when the public can expect access to these records to be restored by government agencies, if ever. In the interim, POGO and MuckRock have partnered to host a publicly available archive of nearly 34,000 documents captured before FOIAonline was shuttered.

Read more here.

FOIA News: FOIA.gov adds a search tool

New Search Tool Improves FOIA.gov User Experience

By DOJ/OIP, FOIA Post, Oct. 24, 2023

FOIA.gov, the government’s central resource for information about the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), was updated today with a new Search Tool that helps the public more quickly locate commonly requested information.  This update reflects one of the most significant improvements to the site since the release of the National FOIA Portal in 2018 and fulfills one of the Department of Justice’s commitments made in the United States Fifth Open Government National Action Plan.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Gov’t FOIA jobs

• Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Education, GS-14, Washington, D.C., closes 11/6/2023.

• Supervisory Gov’t Info. Specialist, DOJ/ATF, GS-14, Washington, D.C., closes 11/6/2023.

• Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Interior, GS-14, multiple locations, closes 11/3/2023.

• Attorney-Adviser, FDIC, CG-14, Washington, D.C., closes 11/2/2023.

• Gov’t Info. Specialist, NARA/OGIS, GS-11, College Park, MD, closes 10/30/2023.