FOIA News: DoD Finalizes Amendments to FOIA Regulations

The Department of Defense published a rule in the Federal Register amending its FOIA regulations. The rule goes into effect on January 4, 2024 and DoD “determined that public comment is unnecessary before finalizing these amendments as they are administrative and are internal to DoD and the management of DoD's FOIA Program.”

Court opinion issued Nov. 29, 2023

Roland v. DOJ (7th Cir.) -- affirming district court’s ruling that: (1) before filing suit, plaintiff failed to administratively appeal DOJ’s determinations that neither the FBI nor National Security Division had records of spying on plaintiff through his television set, and that any existing records would be classified, in any event; (2) plaintiff’s claim about the existence of responsive records was “implausible,” dismissing plaintiff’s reliance on certain video recordings of television broadcasts as unrealistic.

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

Court opinion issued Nov. 28, 2023

Huddleston v. FBI (E.D. Tex.) -- concluding that: (1) the FBI failed to justify its reliance on Exemption 7(D) and 7(E) to withhold information from the images of Seth Rich’s personal laptop; (2) FBI failed to show that records concerning Seth Rich’s work laptop were not “agency records,” rejecting the use of the four-factor Burka test and adopting the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in Rojas v. FAA; and (3) FBI properly withheld newly found records concerning the work laptop pursuant to Exemption 7(A), citing a criminal prosecution and governmental action against various Russian nationals who have been indicted by a grand jury in the District of Columbia.

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

Court opinion issued Nov. 27, 2023

Judicial Watch v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- ruling that FBI performed an adequate search for records of communications between FBI officials and the New York Times regarding search warrants executed in 2021 against certain Project Veritas employees; rejecting plaintiff’s challenges to the search terms employed and the locations searched, as well as plaintiff’s “pure speculation” that the FBI was the source of the newspaper’s reporting.

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

FOIA News: Peace Corps to amend FOIA regulations

The Peace Corps plans to revise its FOIA regulations as set forth in a proposed rule published in the Federal Register on November 28, 2023. Comments must be received by December 28, 2023.

Court opinion issued Nov. 15, 2023

Kilmer v. U.S. Customs & Border Prot. (D.D.C.) -- on renewed summary judgment, ruling that: (1) CBP adequately addressed the court’s earlier concerns regarding the agency’s search for certain communications about the ‘Women’s March” in 2017; and (2) CBP properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 5 (deliberative process privilege), 6, 7(C), and 7(E). In reaching its decision, the court rejected plaintiff’s argument that because CBP had certain enforcement powers, the agency’s search and withholdings should be reviewed under a “strict scrutiny” standard.

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

FOIA News: Recap of CFO Council meeting

Chief FOIA Officers Meeting Recap

By NARA/OGIS, FOIA Ombudsman, Nov. 16, 2023

The Chief FOIA Officers Council (CFOC) met on November 9 to discuss a variety of topics of interest to Chief FOIA Officers and FOIA professionals. Deputy Archivist of the United States, Debra Steidel Wall, and Associate Attorney General of the United States, Vanita Gupta, offered opening remarks to the attendees. You can view the entire meeting on the National Archives YouTube channel. Below is a recap of the meeting. 

• Deputy Assistant Secretary for Global Information Services at the U.S. State Department, Eric Stein, provided a brief overview of two artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning pilots launched at the State Department in the last year. One was on declassification review and the second on processing FOIA requests. 

Read more here.

FOIA News: FOIA backlogs can be reduced with E-discovery, says VP of E-discovery firm

The government’s FOIA policy changes are adding to work levels and requests — but e-Discovery can help

By Amy Hilbert, Casepoint LLC, NextGov/FCW, Nov. 15. 2023

The federal government is working to improve the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) — making it easier to access public records. Attorney General Merrick Garland issued new FOIA guidelines in March, and the Office of Information Policy has updated its FOIA self-assessment toolkit to assist agencies in conducting self-assessments of their FOIA programs.

However, this has led to a growing strain on the staff and budgets of the government agencies and departments that need to comply with FOIA requests.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Nuclear board to amend its FOIA regulations

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has proposed to amend its FOIA fee schedule and four subsections of its fee regulation, according to a notice scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on November 15, 2023. The agency will accept public comments for 30 days.

FOIA News: CFO Council meeting

A recording of the Chief FOIA Officers Council meeting that took place on November 9, 2023, is available online here. It is approximately one hour and 45 minutes long.