FOIA News: More updates to OIP's FOIA Guide

The Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy has recently published updates to several sections of its Guide to the Freedom of Information Act: (1) Exemption 7(D)​ (posted Sept. 9, 2022); (2) Attorney Fees (updated Oct. 14, 2022); and (3) Exemption 7(E)​ (posted Oct. 27, 2022). The oldest section of the Guide is “Litigation Considerations,” which has not been updated since September 2019.

FOIA News: EPA proposes amendments to FOIA regulations

The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a proposed rule that would revise its Freedom of Information Act regulations. Of note, EPA has proposed adding a provision that would permit the expedition of FOIA requests “if the records sought pertain to an environmental justice-related need and will be used to inform an affected community.”

Comments must be received on or before December 19, 2022.

FOIA News: The FOIA wizard

DOJ looks to improve the FOIA experience with new ‘wizard’

A new FOIA search tool is under development, while forthcoming shared business standards aim to streamline case management systems.

By Natalie Alms FCW, Nov. 10, 2022

The Department of Justice is creating a wizard to help Americans making requests under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.

The project is meant to help people locate any information that is already public, and in the case that a FOIA request is still needed, help them make better requests, said Bobak Talebian, director of the DOJ’s Office of Information Policy, during the Chief FOIA Officers Council meeting on Nov. 3.  

Read more here.

FOIA News: Recap of Chief FOIA Officers Council meeting

Justice Department, GSA working on common standards for FOIA tech

By Justin Doubleday, WFED, Nov. 8, 2022

The Freedom of Information Act community is developing new technology standards to help improve FOIA processes and standardize common services like case management tools across government.

The Justice Department’s Office of Information Policy and the Office of Government Information Services at the National Archives are working with the General Services Administration’s Office of Shared Services and Performance Improvement to advance shared FOIA business standards, according to Lindsay Steel, chief of FOIA compliance staff at OIP.

The GSA office administers the Business Standards Council, an interagency team that has helped shepherd shared standards across areas like grants management and electronic records. Now, the council is turning its attention to FOIA.

Read more here.

See video of CFO Council meeting here.

FOIA News: Justice Department, GSA working on common standards for FOIA tech

Justice Department, GSA working on common standards for FOIA tech

By Justin Doubleday, Federal News Network, Nov. 8, 2022

The Freedom of Information Act community is developing new technology standards to help improve FOIA processes and standardize common services like case management tools across government.

The Justice Department’s Office of Information Policy and the Office of Government Information Services at the National Archives are working with the General Services Administration’s Office of Shared Services and Performance Improvement to advance shared FOIA business standards, according to Lindsay Steel, chief of FOIA compliance staff at OIP.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Frequent FBI requester, Ernie Lazar, dies at 77

Ernie Lazar, Who Trawled for Secret Government Documents, Dies at 77

By pursuing his “unusual hobby” of filing as many as 10,000 Freedom of Information requests about extremist groups, he proved invaluable to historians and journalists.

By Sam Roberts, NY Times, Sept. 7, 2022

Ernie Lazar, an unheralded hero of researchers who mined his vast digital and documentary archive of government records on political extremists to invigorate their books, articles and arguments and to warn against “it can’t happen here” complacency, died on Nov. 1 at his home in Palm Springs, Calif. He was 77.

His death was confirmed by the Coroner’s Bureau of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. He reported online a few months ago that he was receiving home hospice care for kidney disease.

Read more here.

FOIA News: OGIS Part 4

Understanding the Office of Government Information Services (part 4/4)

Office of Gov’t Info. Serv., FOIA Ombudsman, Nov. 2, 2022

In our previous blog posts “Understanding the Office of Government Information Services,” parts 1, 2 and 3,  we provided a basic overview of OGIS and highlighted our dispute resolution and compliance work. In this wrap-up post we’ll further explain the important work of the FOIA Advisory Committee and the Chief FOIA Officers Council. 

What is the FOIA Advisory Committee? 

The federal FOIA Advisory Committee, composed of 20 FOIA experts from inside and outside of government, advises the Archivist of the United States on FOIA matters. NARA established the Committee in 2014 in accordance with the U.S. Second Open Government National Action Plan and the Federal Advisory Committee Act to bring together perspectives from all parts of the FOIA community. Under its charter, the Committee fosters dialogue between the Administration and the requester community, solicits public comments, and develops consensus recommendations for improving FOIA administration and proactive disclosures. 

Read more here.

FOIA News: FBI asks court to reconsider order to disclose Seth Rich-related records

In a motion filed last week, the FBI asked a federal court in Texas to reconsider its ruling that plaintiff was entitled to 400,000-plus pages of records pertaining to Seth Rich. Should the court deny that motion, the FBI requests that the court-ordered processing schedule be maintained at the pace of 500 pages per month. That would provide the agency approximately 66 years to complete its production.

FOIA News: ICYMI, "junior" Air Force official blamed for improper release of House candidate's performance evaluations

Air Force blames ‘junior individual’ for congressional candidate’s wrongful records release

By Corey Dickstein, Stars & Stripes, Oct. 28, 2022

The protected military personnel records of an Air National Guard officer who is running for a House seat in Indiana were incorrectly released by an Air Force employee, a service spokeswoman said Thursday.

An initial investigation revealed a “junior individual” within the Air Force Department was likely responsible for the wrongful release of military records for congressional candidate Jennifer-Ruth Green to an unnamed third party, said Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokeswoman.

Green, a 2005 Air Force Academy graduate and Iraq war veteran, is a Republican running for Indiana’s 1st Congressional District seat. She served 12 years on active duty as a special agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and she is now a lieutenant colonel in the Indiana Air National Guard.

Read more here.

FOIA News: EPA employees file FOIA suit re telecommuting policies

Environmental Protection Agency Workers File Suit Over Remote Work Policies

EPA workers in the agency's largest region allege that their remote work requests have been unfairly denied.

By Michael Gennara, Gov’t Exec., Oct. 28, 20

Environmental Protection Agency workers in the midwest are suing the agency, seeking disclosure of documents under a Freedom of Information Act request. The document request is related to the agency’s remote work policies for employees of the EPA’s Region 5 Office and its application to specific employees.

Region 5 is the largest of the EPA’s 10 national regions, and includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

These EPA employees, represented by American Federation of Government Employees Local 704, allege in a lawsuit filed on Oct. 20 that requests to work remotely have been unfairly denied to Region 5 workers even though productivity has remained high with remote work. 

Read more here.