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
FOIA News (2015-2023)CommentState 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.
Court opinion issued June 14, 2023
Court Opinions (2015-2023)CommentCitizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Wash. v. U.S. Dep't of the Army (D.D.C.) -- ruling that communications between South Dakota state officials and the National Guard (a hybrid state-federal entity) did not fall within Exemption 5’s consultant corollary exception because they were not made for purpose of aiding the National Guard’s deliberations; noting that its ruling “produced an odd outcome considering that these discussions would be protected either under Exemption 5 (if wholly federal) and under South Dakota law (if wholly state) . . . and yet the very structure of the National Guard necessitates crossing federal-state lines.”
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Court opinions issued June 13, 2023
Court Opinions (2015-2023)CommentBloomberg L.P. v. USPS (S.D.N.Y.) -- holding that USPS properly withheld certain anonymized change-of-address data pursuant to Exemption 3 in conjunction with 39 U.S.C. § 410(c)(2), because the requested data relates to a commercial product licensed by the agency.
Bothwell v. DOJ (W.D. Okla.) -- deciding that: (1) DOJ was a proper defendant, but not two DOJ components, and (2) plaintiff exhausted his administrative remedies and properly stated a claim under FOIA.
Rhoades v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng'rs (E.D. Va.) -- concluding that agency performed reasonable search for permitting records and related correspondence from 1983, and that it was not required to ask private land owners if they maintained requested records.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
FOIA News: House GOP proposes to safeguard military service records; subjects would be notified of FOIA requests
FOIA News (2015-2023)1 CommentHouse 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.
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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 News (2015-2023)CommentFOIA 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
FOIA News (2015-2023)CommentRASKIN, 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
FOIA News (2015-2023)CommentThe 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
FOIA News (2015-2023)CommentCourt opinion issued June 9, 2023
Court Opinions (2015-2023)CommentSchaerr v. Dep’t of Justice (D.C. Cir.) — affirming district court; concluding, based on circuit precedent, that an agency need not search for responsive records before invoking Glomar and refusing to confirm or deny the existence of records, as such information would itself be exempt under the FOIA; further holding that the defendant agencies had properly invoked Glomar in conjunction with Exemptions One and Three; rejecting requester’s claims of “bad faith” in rebutting agency affidavits because those “allegations [are] either too generalized or too attenuated from the specific classification decisions at issue[.]”
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.