FOIA News: Illinois congressman re-introduces transparency bill

On June 3, 2024, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05) re-introduced the Transparency in Government Act, H.R. 8597. Although the text of the bill is not yet available, his press release indicates that it contains a number of FOIA-related items. Specifically, the bill will reportedly do the following:

• Strengthen the Freedom of Information Act by requiring agencies to put all completed FOIA requests online in a searchable, sortable, and downloadable format.

• Strengthen agencies' FOIA officers' ability to access unclassified agency records.

• Institute new transparency measures to document FOIA requests and compliance. 

FOIA Advisor will provide updates on the progress of this legislation.

Jobs, jobs, jobs: Weekly report 6/3/24

Federal positions closing in the next 10 days

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Navy/USMC, GS 11, Camp Pendleton, CA, closes 6/3/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 12, White City, OR, closes 6/5/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./CIS, GS 5-9, Lees Summit, MO, closes 6/7/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Interior, GS 12-13, location negotiable, closes 6/9/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Treasury/BEP, GS 12-13, Washington, D.C., closes 6/10/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Treasury/IRS, GS 14, multiple locations, closes 6/10/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Justice/OJP, GS 12-13, Washington, DC, closes 6/11/24.

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Office of Personnel Mgmt., GS 11, Washington, D.C. closes 6/13/24.

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Office of Personnel Mgmt., GS 11, Washington, D.C. closes 6/13/24 (non-public).

FOIA News: Panel discussion on GAO's FOIA backlog report

On June 25, 2024, the General Counsel of OPEXUS, a leader in government case management software, will host three agency officials to discuss the Government Accountability Office’s March 2024 report on FOIA backlogs. Entitled “Beat the Backlog: Decoding the GAO FOIA Report to Make a Difference in the Last Quarter of Your Program,” the discussion will include Jay McTigue, Director of Strategic Issues at GAO and author of the GAO’s 2024 FOIA report; Michael Sarich, FOIA Director at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; and Alina Semo, Director at the Office of Government Information Services at NARA. 

See here for more details about the event.

FOIA News: OGIS post on Advisory Committee's next meeting

Plan to Attend Final FOIA Advisory Committee Meeting of the Fifth Term

By Kimberlee N. Ried, FOIA Ombudsman, May 28, 2024

The last meeting of the 2022-2024 term of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee is on Thursday, June 13, 2024, beginning at 10 a.m. ET. The Committee expects to review and approve its final report which will include 16 previously passed recommendations from the three subcommittees, Implementation, Modernization and Resources. All meeting materials will be posted on the FOIA Advisory Committee website.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Agency misspelled words to circumvent FOIA requests, House panel alleges

Health Officials Tried to Evade Public Records Laws, Lawmakers Say

N.I.H. officials suggested federal record keepers helped them hide emails. If so, “that’s really damaging to trust in all of government,” one expert said.

By Benjamin Mueller, NY Times, May 28, 2024

House Republicans on Tuesday accused officials at the National Institutes of Health of orchestrating “a conspiracy at the highest levels” of the agency to hide public records related to the origins of the Covid pandemic. And the lawmakers promised to expand an investigation that has turned up emails in which senior health officials talked openly about trying to evade federal records laws.

The latest accusations — coming days before a House panel publicly questions Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a former top N.I.H. official — represent one front of an intensifying push by lawmakers to link American research groups and the country’s premier medical research agency with the beginnings of the Covid pandemic.

That push has so far yielded no evidence that American scientists or health officials had anything to do with the coronavirus outbreak. But the House panel, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, has released a series of private emails that suggest at least some N.I.H. officials deleted messages and tried to skirt public records laws in the face of scrutiny over the pandemic.

Read more here.

FOIA News: ICYMI, OIP updates litigation sections of FOIA Guide

On February 27, 2024, the Office of Information Policy posted updated versions of Litigation Considerations Part 1 and Litigation Considerations Part 2 of the Department of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act. In 2023, OIP updated three Guide sections: “Reverse FOIA,” “Exemption 2,” and “Exemption 5.” The Guide’s remaining 20 sections were last revised between 2020 and 2022.

Jobs, jobs, jobs: Weekly report 5/27/24

Federal positions closing in the next ten days

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Army, GS 12, Redstone Arsenal, AL, closes 5/27/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Labor/OSHA, GS 9, multiple locations, closes 5/27/24 (non-public).

Sup. Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Agric./APHIS, GS 13, remote, closes 5/28/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Labor/WHD, GS 11, Washington, D.C., closes 5/28/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 12, Tuscaloosa, Al (closes 5/28/24) (agency only).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/IG, GS 9-11, Washington, D.C., closes 5/28/24 (non-public).

Sup. Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Treasury/OFAC, GS 14, Washington, D.C., closes 5/28/24.

Sup. Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Treasury, GS 14, Washington, D.C., closes 5/28/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Air Force, GS 9, Homestead AFB, FL, closes 5/29/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./TSA, SV G-H, remote, closes 5/29/24 (agency only).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 9-11, Fayetteville, AK, closes 5/20/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Health & Human Serv., GS 12, Washington, DC (closes 5/20/24) (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of State, GS 12-13, Washington, D.C., closes 5/31/24 (State employees).

Att’y-Advisor, Office of Mgmt. & Budget, GS 13, Washington, D.C., closes 5/31/24.

Federal positions closing on or after 6/7/24

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Interior, GS 12-13, location negotiable, closes 6/9/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Treasury/BEP, GS 12-13, Washington, D.C., closes 6/10/24 (non-public).

Court opinion issued May 23, 2024

Cohodes v. DOJ (N.D. Cal.) -- following in camera review, finding that DOJ could not rely on Exemptions 6 and/or 7(C) to redact the following information originating from a dispute between plaintiff, a Wall Street short-seller, and biotech company MiMedx, specifically: (1) name of email author sent under a pseudonym to an attorney; (2) name and email address of attorney who forwarded email to FBI; (3) names of MiMedx witnesses interviewed by the government in 2018; and (4) anonymous email address from a person who sent an email to a witness offering to provide information about the plaintiff.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.

FOIA News: More coverage on FOIA controversy at NIH

• By Liz Jassin, Did NIH official hide COVID-19 records?, The Hill, May 23, 2024

• By Dan Diamond & McKenzie Beard, A Fauci Advisor Deleted Emails. Congress Demanded To Know Why, Wash. Post, May 23, 2024.

• By Mandy Taheri, Biggest Bombshells From New Fauci COVID Emails, Newsweek, May 23, 2024 (updated May 24, 2024).

• (Opinion) By Mark Tapscott, Now Will the FOIA Get Some Real Teeth?, PJ Media, May 23, 2024.

FOIA News: Mark your calendars for NARA/OGIS events

Registration is now open for the final federal FOIA Advisory Committee meeting of the 2022-2024 term, which will be held virtually on on June 13, 2024. See more details here.

On July 24, 2024, the Office of Government Information Services will host its annual open meeting. Agenda and meeting materials are expected to be available in July.