FOIA News: FBI releases list of "serial filers," aka "vexsome" requesters

FBI Issues Redacted ‘Vexsome Filer’ List, Marking Departure from Past Transparency Practices

By John Greenwald, Black Vault, Feb. 7, 2024

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has recently released a significantly redacted version of its latest ‘Vexsome Filer’ list, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by The Black Vault on August 7, 2023, under FBI FOIA case number 1600755-000. Initially, the request was met with a response stating no records existed. This prompted an appeal, case A-2023-01949, wherein the Department of Justice (DOJ) remanded the request, leading to the release of this latest, albeit heavily redacted, document.

Read more here.

In response to the FBI’s disclosure, the Cato Institute—the only requester whose name was not redacted— claimed it was a badge of honor.

FOIA News: Selective Service to overhaul FOIA regulations

The Selective Service System will update its decades-old FOIA regulations, as outlined in a proposed rule published today in the Federal Register. Comments are due within 60 days.

FOIA News: More 2023 annual reports

We’re less than four weeks away from the March 1st deadline for agencies to post their annual reports for fiscal year 2023. The government’s overall performance will depend largely on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which received 58 percent of all FOIA requests in FY 2022. The Departments of Defense, Justice, and Health & Human Services were the next busiest agencies, receiving 10, 6, and 4 percent of all requests, respectively. Below are a few more reports we’ve found online..

American Battle Monuments Commission

Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (197 requests received; only 61 processed).

Department of Housing and Urban Development

Federal Election Commission

National Mediation Board

Office of Management and Budget

Social Security Administration (10130 requests received; 10305 processed)

U.S Agency for International Development

U.S. Railroad and Retirement Board

FOIA News: Here come the FY 2023 annual reports

Agencies are required to post their fiscal year 2023 annual FOIA reports online no later than March 1, 2024. We’ve started to look for early postings and here are a few that we’ve found. Stay tuned for more in the month ahead.

• Commission on Civil Rights

• Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency

• Commodities Future Trading Commission

• Farm Credit Administration

• Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation

• Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission

• Federal Energy Regulation Commission

• Merit Systems Protection Board

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration

• Nuclear Regulatory Commission

• Office of Government Ethics

• Peace Corps

• Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

• Securities and Exchange Commission (9481 requests received; 9022 processed)

• U.S. Postal Service (4168 requests received; 4104 processed)

• U.S. Trade Representative

FOIA News: FOIA Advisory Committee next meets on March 5, 2024

The next meeting of the federal Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee will take place virtually on March 5, 2024, one week before the kickoff of Sunshine Week. Additional details are available here. The committee is scheduled to meet in April and May, as well, before concluding its term in June.

FOIA News: After years of silence, OGIS publicly torpedoes the term "Glomar"

On January 25, 2024, the Office of Government Information Services launched a stealth attack on the use of the term “Glomar,” posting on its blog, the FOIA Ombudsman, that it hoped agencies would “retire the term” following the federal FOIA Advisory Committee’s recommendation to do so in 2022.

Notably, although OGIS chairs the FOIA Advisory Committee and may comment and vote on proposed recommendations, it said nothing about this issue during the two public committee meetings at which it was discussed: Dec. 9, 2021 (transcript), and Mar. 10, 2022 (transcript with vote). According to the transcript minutes of the former meeting, OGIS reportedly provided input about “Glomar” to the sponsors of the recommendation. The substance of OGIS’s comments has never been officially released, however. By contrast, the Department of Justice was forthright in the meetings about its disagreement with the recommendation, and four committee members—including yours truly—voted against it. DOJ abstained from voting, as is its practice. No vote was recorded for OGIS, whose director missed the March 10, 2022 meeting.

The committee’s non-unanimous recommendation was approved by the Archivist of the United States. It remains pending at the Department of Justice (where it should die).

FOIA News: OIP solicits nominees for Sunshine Week awards

OIP Now Accepting Nominations for the 2024 Sunshine Week FOIA Awards

By DOJ/OIP, FOIA Post, Jan. 23, 2024

The Department of Justice, Office of Information Policy (OIP) is pleased to announce that nominations are open for the 2024 Sunshine Week FOIA Awards, recognizing the contributions of FOIA professionals from around the government.  As the Attorney General recognized in his FOIA Guidelines issued in March 2022, “[t]he federal government could not process the hundreds of thousands of FOIA requests that are received every year without its dedicated FOIA professionals.”  Agency FOIA professionals are at the center of ensuring successful FOIA administration and we look forward to celebrating the work of these individuals from around the government.  For this year’s event, OIP is seeking nominations for five categories of awards:

Read more here.

FOIA News: Hear ye! Hear ye!

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in two companion (non-FOIA) cases, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Dep’t of Commerce, each of which challenge the Chevron doctrine. We mention this because FOIA Advisor’s own Ryan Mulvey represents the appellants in the former case and has a ringside seat at counsel’s table this morning. Congratulations, Ryan!

Listen to the arguments in real time here.

Court opinion issued Jan. 8, 2024

Kayll v. DHS (D.D.C.) -- ruling that U.S. Customs & Border Protection did not possess or control records in a State Department database relating to visa applications, even though CBP inputted information into that database about plaintiff; in reaching its decision, the court noted its concern that a contrary ruling would allow requester to circumvent the confidentiality provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1202(f).

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.

FOIA News: HUD Refuses To Release Secretary Marcia Fudge's Email Address

HUD Refuses To Release Secretary Marcia Fudge's Email Address in Response to Reason FOIA Request

By C.J. Ciaramella, Reason, Jan. 9, 2024

Want to know Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge's government email address? Too bad, it's a secret.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from Reason, HUD released a list of email addresses for all political appointees—with two exceptions. The agency redacted HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge and Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman's addresses, citing an exemption from releasing any records that would "constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

Read more here.