FOIA News: CIA to amend FOIA regulations

The Central Intelligence Agency intends to revise its Freedom of Information Act regulations, according to a draft notice scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on July 1, 2022. Public comments will be accepted for 60 days.

FOIA News: Deadline extended for FOIA Advisory Committee nominations

Office of Gov’t Info. Serv., The FOIA Ombudsman, June 29, 2022

The deadline for nominating yourself or someone else to the 2022-2024 term of the FOIA Advisory Committee has been extended until Friday, July 15, 2022. We are looking for a wide range of FOIA experts from both inside and outside the government who have a passion for FOIA and a commitment to improving the FOIA process.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Don't hold your breath for Navy records on UFOs

U.S. Navy Reading Room notice re: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena

FOIA News: SSA looking to replace FOIAonline; Gov't Attic uncovers details of platform's demise

On June 22, 2022, the Social Security Administration issued a request for information (RFI) for replacement software for its FOIAonline case management, which is being eliminated. The “sunsetting” of FOIAonline was reported in 2021, albeit never widely announced. A FOIA request from Government Attic to EPA about the demise of FOIAonline yielded 627 pages of records.

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.