In case you’ve missed it, the blog “eDiscovery Today” is running a five-part article entitled “Processing Freedom of Information Act Requests and Utilizing eDiscovery.” The co-authors are Michael Sarich, the Director of FOIA at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, and Nicholas Wittenberg, Corporate Counsel and Senior Advisor for Legal Technology and Innovation at Armedia.
Part 1 , Feb. 5, 2024.
Part 2, Feb. 7, 2024.
Part 3, Feb. 9, 2024.
Part 4 , Feb. 12, 2024.
The March 1st deadline for agencies to post their annual reports is quickly approaching. Here are reports that we’ve located since we last posted on February 4th.
Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency
Department of Education (2816 requests received; 2385 processed)
Here are the reports we posted on January 31st and Feb. 4th:
Jan. 31, 2024
Securities and Exchange Commission (9481 requests received; 9022 processed)
U.S. Postal Service (4168 requests received; 4104 processed)
Feb. 4, 2024
Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (197 requests received; only 61 processed).
Social Security Administration (10130 requests received; 10305 processed)
The federal positions listed below are open to the public unless indicated otherwise.
Federal positions closing in next 10 days
Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Transp./FAA, multiple locations, FV 1, closes 2/13/24 (non-public).
Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Transp./FAA, multiple locations, FV 1, closes 2/13/24.
Gov’t Info. Specialist, Envtl. Prot. Agency, multiple locations, GS 13, closes 2/13/24 (non-public).
Gov’t Info. Specialist, Gen. Serv. Admin., location negotiable, GS 12-13, closes 2/15/24.
Supervisory Att’y Advisor, Dep’t of Justice, Civil Division, Washington, D.C., GS 15, closes 2/16/24.
Att’y Advisor, Dep’t of Justice, OIP, Washington, D.C., GS 12-14, closes 2/19/24.
Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, Illinois, GS-12, closes 2/19/24 (non-public).
Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VBA, Overland, MO, GS 13, closes 2/20/24 (non-public).
Att’y-Advisor, Dep’t of the Interior/Solicitor, Washington, D.C., GS 12-14, closes 2/21/24.
Supervisory Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Def./Army, Fort Belvoir, VA, GS 14, closes 2/21/24 (non-public).
Federal positions announced in past 7 days and closing after 2/22/24
Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Ed./Sec’y, Washington, D.C., GS-13, closes 2/27/24 (non-public).
Private sector positions
Manager, FOIA Programs, OPEXUS (formerly AINS, LLC), Washington, D.C., salary and closing date not indicated.
The International Boundary and Water Commission: United States and Mexico has a vacancy for an Attorney-Advisor in El Paso, Texas to administer its FOIA program and assists with its ethics and privacy programs. The deadline to apply is Feb. 12, 2024.
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.
Frost Brown Todd LLC v. Ctr. for Medicare & Medicaid Serv. (D.D.C.) -- deciding that: (1) of six requests, only the portion of one request reasonably described the records sought, resulting in dismissal of all claims based on the deficient requests; rejecting plaintiff’s arguments that two agency regulations precluded dismissal; and (2) plaintiff’s allegation that CMS had a pattern or practice of unreasonably delaying the release of non-exempt documents was sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss.
Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.
The Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector Justice launched a new FOIA reading room on February 5, 2024., which contains “categories of documents of public interest released between 2020 and 2022 in response to FOIA requests to the OIG. Additional documents will be added periodically after they are released in response to FOIA requests.” Documents from 2023 will be added “at a future date.”
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.
Welcome to our first “Roundup.” At the beginning of each month, we’ll highlight the FOIA activity we’ve observed in the previous month, just in case you missed it. Additionally, we’ll point out what’s ahead in the 4 to 5 weeks,
Court decisions: We posted 16 decisions in January. Of note, the court in Children’s Health Def. v. FDA (D.D.C.) reminded us that a plaintiff-friendly judge in the Northern District of Texas has paralyzed the FDA’s FOIA operations with what might be the most burdensome production schedule in the history of FOIA litigation (180k pages per month). The CDC also has been ensnared by the same district court, which recently held that it would not be unreasonably burdensome for the agency to process 7.8 million “free text” messages over the next 12 months. See Freedom Coal. of Doctors for Choice v. CDC (N.D. Tex.).
OGIS: On January 25th, in a blog post discussing the history of the Glomar response, OGIS inexplicably expressed its support for a FOIA Advisory Committee recommendation to eliminate that term from agency lexicons, notwithstanding opposition from DOJ and others.
DOJ: On January 23rd, OIP solicited nominations for Sunshine Week FOIA awards for agency personnel.
Other news: Requesters filed 59 lawsuits across the country in January, according data posted by the FOIA Project. The most frequent filer was the Center for Immigrations Studies, with five cases.
February lookahead:
On February 6th, OIP will host an Advanced Freedom of Information Act training for federal employees and contractors. Despite being virtual, it is listed as “sold out.”
On February 14th, the D.C. Circuit will hear oral argument in Cabezas v. FBI. We will post a reminder the day before.
On February 16th, the D.C. Circuit will hear oral argument in Assassination Archives & Research Ctr. v. DOJ. We will post a reminder the day before.
By the end of the month, we expect most agencies to have posted their annual FOIA reports for FY 2023, which are due no later than March 1st.
Welcome to our first weekly jobs report. The positions listed below entail full-time, or at least 50 percent, FOIA duties.
Federal positions closing in 10 days or less:
Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, Manchester, NH, GS 12, closes 2/5/24.
Gov’t Info. Specialist, Veterans Health Admin (VHA)., Bronx, NY, GS 11-12, closes 2/5/24.
Gov’t Info. Specialist, Def. Health Agency, Dover, DE, GS 7, closes 2/5/24.
Supervisory Gov. Info. Specialist, IRS, Arizona, Alabama. Alaska, IR 6, closes 2/5/24.
Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Energy, Carlsbad, NM, GS 11, closes 2/6/24.
Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Air Force, Lackland AFB, TX, GS 9, closes 2/7/24.
Gov’t Info. Specialist, Envtl. Prot. Agency, Washington, DC, GS 13. closes 2/8/24.
Gov’t Info. Specialist, Nat’l Science Found., Alexandria, VA, GS 14, closes 2/8/24.
Att’y Advisor, Dep’t of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, Remote, GS 13-14, closes 2/8/24.
Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Army, Fort Knox, KY, GS 9, closes 2/8/24.
Gov’t Info. Specialist, IRS, current employees only, GS 13, closes 2/9/24.
Gov’t Info. Specialist/Ass’t Privacy Officer, VHA, Madison, WI, GS 7-9, closes 2/9/24.
Gov. Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Transp., FAA, Multiple locations, FV 1, closes 2/13/24 (public).
Gov. Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Transp., FAA, Multiple locations, FV 1, closes 2/13/24 (non-public).
Federal positions announced in past 7 days (if not listed above):
Supervisory Att’y Advisor, Dep’t of Justice, Civil Division, Washington, D.C., GS 15, closes 2/16/24.
Att’y Advisor, Dep’t of Justice, OIP, Washington, D.C., GS 12-14, closes 2/19/24.