FOIA News: OGIS releases annual report

On June 21, 2023, the Office of Government Information Services posted its 2023 Report for Fiscal Year 2022. Highlights of OGIS’s activities include handling 4500 requests for assistance and providing a new virtual training program on negotiations for FOIA professionals.

FOIA News: State Dep't considering AI to reduce FOIA backlog

State Department looks to AI for streamlined FOIA workloads

By Jory Heckman, Fed. News Network, June 21, 2023 9:24 am

The State Department is looking at artificial intelligence and automation tools to process Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests more quickly and improve its level of service to requesters.

Eric Stein, the department’s deputy assistant secretary for Office of Global Information Services and co-chairman of the Chief FOIA Officers Council’s Technology Committee, said he’s also looking at ways to use these emerging tools to improve FOIA processing governmentwide.

“I think people are afraid of AI, and maybe they should be. Maybe they shouldn’t be, but my take is, we’d like to get people comfortable with the concepts of AI and machine learning,” Stein said.

Read more here.

FOIA News: House GOP proposes to safeguard military service records; subjects would be notified of FOIA requests

House GOP moves to ban public access to service members' military records

The proposal comes after the Pentagon erroneously released the personal information of several Republican politicians who were current or former members of the armed forces.

By Courtney Kube, NBC News, June 19, 2023

House Republicans are attempting to end the decades-old practice of the Defense Department’s releasing summaries of the service records of members of the U.S. military to the public. 

The House Appropriations Committee bill would prohibit any funds from being used to release personal information about current and former service members, which news organizations and some employers use to verify people’s military service. 

* * *

Under the new proposal, members of the public, new organizations and some employers would have to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the military service branch to obtain the information, and the individual must be notified before the information can be released. But the FOIA process is notoriously backlogged and can take months or even years to fulfill a request. 

The only exception would be if the request comes from a federal government entity or state and local law enforcement, which the military can fulfill. 

Read more here.

FOIA News: FOIA Advisory Committee seeks input on so-called model determination letter

FOIA Advisory Committee Seeks Input on Draft Model Determination Letter

OGIS, FOIA Ombudsman, June 14, 2023,

As presented and discussed at the June 8, 2023, FOIA Advisory Committee Meeting, the Modernization Subcommittee seeks public feedback on a model determination letter from federal agencies, FOIA requesters, and the public, before finalizing into a formal recommendation.

As the Subcommittee notes in its background document, the FOIA statute “says almost nothing about communicating the substance of the agency’s decision.” The model letter is designed to be a template for agencies to use when responding to requesters, and covers such areas as the search for responsive records, the agency’s determination and referrals, among other administrative matters. 

Read more here.

FOIA News: FOIA Bill for Private Prisons Introduced

RASKIN, CARDIN INTRODUCE LEGISLATION TO IMPROVE TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN PRIVATE PRISONS

June 14, 2023

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) and Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) today introduced legislation to require that all U.S. government agencies comply with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests relating to private prisons, jails or detention facilities, including immigration detention facilities. This legislation, the Private Prison Information Act (PPIA), will improve transparency for all people detained in private facilities and represents an essential step forward in facilitating accountability throughout the American criminal justice system.

Read more here.

Read the bill text here.

FOIA News: Reminder of OGIS open meeting this morning

The Office of Government Information Services hosts its annual open meeting this morning at 10am. Here are the agenda, presentations slides, and livestream link.

FOIA News: Presidential Campaign Files FOIA Request

My campaign just filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) demand to uncover *exactly* what the White House communicated to Merrick Garland & Jack Smith about the unprecedented indictment of a former U.S. President & Biden’s disfavored opponent in this election. Every American… pic.twitter.com/bnwmn6jGYZ

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) June 12, 2023

FOIA News: OIP launches redesigned website

OIP’s Redesigned Website Now Released

DOJ/OIP, FOIA Post, June 9, 2023

The Office of Information Policy (OIP) is pleased to announce the release of its redesigned website to align with the broader modernization of Justice.gov.  The redesigned page provides enhanced functionality to meet the requirements of the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act and a new design based on the U.S. Web Design System.  

OIP’s site contains all the FOIA resources previously available, presenting them in a modernized design that is mobile-friendly.  Many pages, including OIP’s FOIA Library, have been reformatted for easier navigation and visibility of key information.  FOIA Post can now be accessed from anywhere on the site using the top navigation menu.  Key Dates that include upcoming trainings, events, and deadlines can be easily viewed and searched.  As the Attorney General’s 2022 FOIA Guidelines note, “agency FOIA websites should be easily navigable, and records should be presented in the most useful, searchable, and open formats possible.”  OIP looks forward to continuing to improve the organization and presentation of released materials and to make other updates to improve the user experience. 

See OIP’s original post here.

See website here

FOIA News: Judge gives US government one week to handle request for Prince Harry’s visa records

Judge gives US government one week to handle request for Prince Harry’s visa records

By Holmes Lybrand, CNN, June 6. 2023

A federal judge has given the Department of Homeland Security until next Tuesday to decide how it will handle a conservative think tank’s request for Prince Harry’s US immigration records.

The Heritage Foundation has asked the US government via the Freedom of Information Act to see his visa application, citing his admission of past recreational drug use in his memoir. The group is questioning whether immigration officials properly granted Prince Harry’s application, since admission of past drug use can be grounds to reject a visa application.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Senators re-introduce FOIA legislation to restore "National Parks" test

Grassley, Feinstein, Welch Reintroduce Bill To Restore FOIA Presumptions Of Openness, Transparency

Press Release, Office of Senator Charles Grassley, June 6, 2023

WASHINGTON – Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) today introduced legislation to improve the public’s access to information and ability to hold the federal bureaucracy accountable.  

The Open and Responsive Government Act aims to restore an appropriate legal interpretation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Exemption 4 on confidential commercial information. The bill also reinforces the law’s presumptions of openness and transparency by underscoring any information outside of the scope of FOIA’s nine exemptions should be publicly available.  

Read more here.

Text of bill here.