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.

Court opinions issued Nov. 1, 2022

Luedde v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- granting FBI’s uncontested motion for summary judgment regarding its response to plaintiff’s request for records concerning himself, and declining to consider at this stage whether pro se plaintiff would be entitled to litigation costs.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinions issued Oct. 31, 2022

Emery v. DOJ-FBI (D.D.C.) -- holding that: (1) plaintiff’s failure to appeal ATF’s original decision was moot, because agency issued a new decision after plaintiff filed suit; (2) FBI performed adequate search for records concerning plaintiff, who did not oppose government’s motion; and (3) FBI properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 6, 7(C), 7(D), and 7(E), which plaintiff did not oppose.

Emery v. DOJ-ATF (D.D.C.) -- ruling that: (1) plaintiff’s failure to appeal ATF’s original decision was moot, because agency issued a new decision after plaintiff filed suit; (2) ATF conducted adequate search for records concerning plaintiff, who did not oppose agency’s declarations; (3) ATF properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 3 in conjunction with Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e), as well as Exemptions 5, 6, 7(C), and 7(E), none of which plaintiff contested; and (4) plaintiff was ineligible to receive costs of litigation because he did not substantially prevail.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available 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.

FOIA News: OGIS Part 3

Understanding the Office of Government Information Services (part 3/4)

By Office of Gov’t Info. Serv., FOIA Ombudsman, Oct. 27, 2022

In our previous two blog posts “Understanding the Office of Government Information Services” parts 1 and 2, we provided a basic overview of how OGIS is structured and highlighted aspects of our dispute resolution program. In this post we’ll touch on the specific nuances of our compliance program. 

How does OGIS’s compliance work?

OGIS reviews agency policies, procedures and compliance through an impartial lens as an advocate for the FOIA process. We do this by:

• assessing issues that we observe while assisting requesters and agencies with the FOIA process;

• offering assessments of individual agency FOIA programs;

• highlighting agency best practices;

• reviewing and commenting on proposed agency FOIA regulations;

• reviewing and suggesting improvements to agency FOIA materials;

• working with agencies when we observe policies and procedures that appear to OGIS to be inconsistent with FOIA law or policy; and

• reviewing government and non-government reports on FOIA activities and compliance.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Air Force takes 'full responsibility' for Jennifer-Ruth Green sexual assault leak, GOP congressmen say

Air Force takes 'full responsibility' for Jennifer-Ruth Green sexual assault leak, GOP congressmen say

Indiana Reps. Jim Banks and Larry Bucshon said the records were provided to 'an opposition research firm' ahead of the state's Nov. 8 election

By Kyle Morris, Fox News, Oct. 26, 2022

EXCLUSIVE: The Air Force has taken responsibility for the release of an Indiana Republican House candidate's confidential personnel records that contained details about her sexual assault, according to two GOP congressmen from the Hoosier State.

In a joint statement that was first shared with Fox News Digital, Indiana GOP Rep. Jim Banks, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, and Indiana GOP Rep. Larry Bucshon, described a discussion they had with Air Force Inspector General Lt. Gen. Stephen Davis about the Air Force Personnel Center’s release of Indiana 1st Congressional District candidate Air Force Lt. Col. Jennifer-Ruth Green’s confidential personnel records:

Read more here.

Court opinion issued Oct. 21, 2022

Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press v. FBI (D.D.C.) -- determining that: (1) FBI improperly relied on Exemption 7(C) to withhold pseudonyms used by agency in its investigation of Clive Bundy; (2) FBI properly withheld names of four Special Agents pursuant to Exemption 7(C), notwithstanding their trial testimony or news reports associating them with the Bundy investigation, because plaintiff failed to show that those Special Agents were involved in specific aspect of the investigation covered by records at issue; (3) FBI properly withheld four categories of records pursuant to Exemption 7(E), rejecting plaintiff’s argument that foreseeable harm provision applies to Exemption 7(E).

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinion issued Oct. 19, 2022

Satterlee v. IRS (W.D. Mo.) -- granting agency’s supplemental motion for summary judgment after finding that agency released all remaining responsive records, specifically the oath of office of a Revenue Officer and plaintiff’s taxpayer transcripts, which documented all “balance-due notices” that had been sent to plaintiff.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.