Sunshine Week & Freedom of Information Day: March 12-18 & 16, 2023
Press Release, Mar. 12, 2023
According to Sunshineweek.org, “Sunshine Week was launched in 2005 by the American Society of News Editors — now News Leaders Association — and has grown into an enduring initiative to promote open government. Join News Leaders Association in the annual nationwide celebration of access to public information and what it means for you and your community. It’s your right to know.”
Read more here.
Earlier this year, Columbia University Press published Neither Confirm Nor Deny: How the Glomar Mission Shielded the CIA from Transparency, a book authored by East Carolina University professor M. Todd Bennett. “Like a Jules Verne novel with an Ian Fleming twist, the saga of the Glomar Explorer features underwater espionage, impossible gadgetry, and high-stakes international drama. It also marks a key moment in the history of transparency—and not just for what became known as the Glomar response: “We can neither confirm nor deny. . . .”
See here for table of contents, preview, and purchasing options.
FOIA backlogs on the rise after record number of requests
By Justin Doubleday, Fed. News Network, Mar. 3, 2023 4:34 pm
Freedom of Information Act backlogs soared at some key agencies after the public filed a record number of FOIA requests in fiscal 2022.
Agencies received 928,353 requests last year and processed 878,420 requests, both record highs, according to the Justice Department’s Office of Information Policy. Agencies were required to upload their fiscal 2022 annual FOIA reports by March 1.
Read more here.
Mark Your Calendar For Sunshine Week 2023
NARA/OGIS, FOIA Ombudsman, Mar. 2, 2023
Make plans to join us as we kick off Sunshine Week, an annual nationwide celebration of access to public information, with a panel discussion on “Making Access Happen: FOIA at the National Archives” on Monday, March 13, at 1 p.m. ET. The event will be live-streamed on the National Archives YouTube Channel.
Read more here.
By DOJ/OIP, FOIA Post, Mar. 2, 2023
This week, the Office of Information Policy (OIP) posted the Department’s 2022 FOIA Litigation and Compliance Report. In accordance with the FOIA, each year the Department of Justice submits to Congress and the President a report detailing our efforts to encourage agency compliance with the FOIA. The report also contains a listing of all FOIA litigation cases received and decided in the prior calendar year. The report highlights the many ways that OIP works to provide guidance, trainings, and counseling to agencies to assist them in their FOIA administration and to promote agency accountability.
Read more here.
Federal agencies received a total of 928,316 FOIA requests in FY 2022, according to data now available on FOIA.gov, shattering the previous high of 863,729 requests in FY 2018. Although agencies processed a record-breaking number of requests, as well (878,363), the request backlog grew from 153,227 to 206,719—a 34 percent increase.
Some additional data of note:
Appeal backlog stood at 4,709, a slight decrease from 4.734 in FY 2021
Total processing costs were $543.7 million, up from $522.8 million in FY 2021
Total litigation costs were $40.9 million, up from $38.5 million in FY 2021
Total processing fees collected from requesters were $2.19 milion, up from $2.09 million in FY 2021.
DHS received the most requests (539,807), followed by DOJ (93,370), and DOD (54,004).
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which receives more FOIA requests than any other federal agency, released its FY 2022 annual FOIA report on March 2nd, a day after the reporting deadline Here are the highlights:
Received 541,057 requests, a 22.2 percent increase from FY 2021, when it received 442,650 requests.
Processed 506,032 requests, a 8.2 percent increase from FY 2021, when it processed 467,347 requests.
Received 7,394 appeals, a 6.7 percent increase from FY 2021, when it received 6,908 appeals
Processed 7,374 appeals, a 12 percent increase from FY 2021, when it processed 6,579 appeals.
Backlogged requests were 52,266 at end of FY 2022, compared to 25,102 backlogged requests at the end of FY 2021, a percent increase.
Backlogged appeals were 413 at end of FY 2022, compared to 436 backlogged appeals at the end of FY 2021, a 5.2 percent decrease.
For processed perfected requests, the overall department response time was an average of 11 days for “simple” requests and 83 days for “complex” requests.
Processing costs were $ 75.2 million and litigation costs were $2.5 million, whereas in FY 2021 the department incurred $70.8 million in processing costs and $2 million in litigation costs.
Fees collected for processing requests totalled $14,913.
The U.S. Department of State received 13,864 FOIA requests and processed only 9,167 requests in fiscal year 2022, increasing its request backlog by 25 percent from 14,941 in FY 2021 to 18,765, according to its annual FOIA report posted on March 1, 2023. The Department’s processing and litigation costs totaled $39.4 million, while it once again burdened taxpayers by collecting zero dollars in processing fees. The overall response times for processed perfected requests were reported to be 40 days for “simple” requests and 115 days for “complex” requests. The oldest ten pending perfected requests ranged from 3,843 to 3,954 days old and were received more than 15 years ago.
On March 1, 2023, DOJ’s Office of Information Policy posted a list of links to agency annual reposts for fiscal year 2022. A significant number of agencies appear to have missed the filing deadline. In other cases, OIP simply neglected to find and link the reports, e.g., Department of the Interior, Department of Education, Department of State, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Central Intelligence Agency.
Shortly after the 5pm deadline on March 1, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice, whose Office of Information Policy, is responsible for encouraging all agencies to comply with FOIA, released its annual FOIA report for fiscal year 2022. Here are the highlights:
Received 93,370 requests, a 4.2 percent decrease from FY 2021, when it received 97,490 requests.
Processed 82,868 requests, a 9.7 percent increase from FY 2021, when it processed 75,511 requests.
The Executive Office of Immigration Review received the largest number of requests (56,544), and processed the largest number of requests (46,172). The FBI processed more requests (18,350) than it received (18,056).
Received 2,048 appeals, a 21.6 percent decrease from FY 2021, when it received 2,614 appeals
Processed 2,126 appeals, a 23.2 percent decrease from FY 2021, when it processed 2,771 appeals.
Backlogged requests stood at 64,982 at end of FY 2022, compared to 48,959 backlogged requests at the end of FY 2021, a 32.7 percent increase.
Backlogged appeals stood at 321 at end of FY 2022, compared to 378 backlogged appeals at the end of FY 2021, a 15 percent decrease.
For processed perfected requests, the overall department response time was an average of 134 days for “simple” requests and 271.8 days for “complex” requests.
Processing costs were $ 82.9 million and litigation costs were $16.7 million, which is about the same as FY 2021, when department incurred $80.6 million in processing costs and $17.1 million in litigation costs.
Fees collected for processing requests amounted to $33,992, up from $24,032 in FY 2021.