FOIA News: The Deep Six

As of 9:27am this morning, six departments have yet to post their FY 2025 annual reports: Agriculture; Health & Human Services; Homeland Security; Justice; Treasury; and Veterans Affairs. The deadline for agencies to provide reports to DOJ/OIP for clearance was December 12, 2025; the deadline to post final reports was March 1, 2026 (see here).

FOIA News: AFPF Sunshine Week Symposium - March 18, 2026

[FOIA Advisor: The event in the following announcement is being organized by FOIA Advisor’s own Ryan Mulvey with his employer, Americans for Prosperity Foundation. Learn more, and register to attend the free webinar, at https://americansforprosperityfoundation.org/sunshine!]

SIXTH ANNUAL SUNSHINE WEEK SYMPOSIUM – March 18, 2026

Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFPF) is happy to announce its Sixth Annual Sunshine Week Symposium, which will bring together a panel of transparency experts to discuss cutting-edge issues related to the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and state open-records laws.  Join us online for a robust exploration into the current state and future of FOIA on Wednesday, March 18th, from 10:00–11:30am ET.

Our expert panelists will explore the following issues, and more:

• Improving proactive disclosure

• Records retention and management practices in a digital age

• Processing platforms, the rise of Artificial Intelligence, and agency resource limitations

• The impact of copyright claims on public access

• The state of FOIA enforcement—judicial review, OGIS mediation, and more

This year’s symposium participants include:

• Ryan Mulvey, Senior Policy Counsel, Americans for Prosperity Foundation & Professorial Lecturer in Law, The George Washington University Law School

• Margaret Kwoka, The Frank R. Strong Chair in Law, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law

• Frank LoMonte, Newsroom Legal Counsel, CNN & Adjunct Instructor, University of Georgia School of Law

• Michael Sarich, Founder, FOIA University & Former FOIA Director, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

* Panelist affiliations provided for identification purposes only

Registration for online viewing is available here.

FOIA News: DHS crosses FOIA boundary?

DHS Ousts CBP Privacy Officers Who Questioned ‘Illegal’ Orders

Department of Homeland Security leaders removed top privacy officers who objected to mislabeling government records to block their public release, WIRED has learned.

By Dell Cameron, WIRED, Mar. 10, 2026

The US Department of Homeland Security removed multiple career Customs and Border Protection officials from their roles this year after they objected to orders to mislabel records about surveillance technologies and block their release under the Freedom of Information Act, WIRED has learned.

Since January, DHS leaders have reassigned two of the top officials responsible for ensuring that CBP technologies comply with federal privacy law, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation. These sources were granted anonymity because they fear government retribution.

The reassignments followed December orders from the DHS Privacy Office to treat routine compliance forms as legally privileged, and to label signed privacy assessments as “drafts” exempt from disclosure under federal records law.

Those removed include CBP’s top privacy officer and one of the agency’s two privacy branch chiefs. The director of CBP’s FOIA office was also removed last month.

Read more here.

FOIA News: And then there were six

As of 9:00am this morning, six departments have yet to post their annual reports: Agriculture; Health & Human Services; Homeland Security; Justice; Treasury; and Veterans Affairs. The deadline to post was March 1, 2026.

Last year, reporting delays were tied to tampering of government database by two Virginia brothers who worked for Opexus, a federal contractor. Both then and now, the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy, which collects and reviews the annual reports, has declined to publicly explain the delays.

FOIA News: NRC revises FOIA regs

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a final rule on March 6, 2026, updating its FOIA regulations to better align with current DOJ guidelines. Key changes include a standardized "end-date" for record searches and a new mandate for the FOIA Public Liaison to help requesters refine their searches to lower costs. The rule also formalizes proactive disclosures, requiring the agency to continuously update its website with frequently requested records. These amendments took effect immediately without a public comment period.

FOIA News: New day; same story

As of 9:58am today, the following departments still have not yet posted their annual reports for FY 2025: Agriculture, HHS, DHS, DOJ, Labor, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.

FOIA News: Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

As of 9:56am today, the following departments still have not yet posted their annual reports for FY 2025: Agriculture, HHS, DHS, DOJ, Labor, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.

FOIA News: Annual reports remain AWOL

As of 9:48am today, the following departments still have not yet posted their annual reports for FY 2025: Agriculture, HHS, DHS, DOJ, Labor, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.

FOIA News: FOIA Advisory Committee meets tomorrow; OIP head will join

The federal FOIA Advisory Committee for the 2024-2026 term will meet remotely on Thursday, March 5, 2026. The meeting material is available here. The Committee will be joined by OIP’s director Sean Glendening, who was recently appointed to the Committee by NARA’s senior advisor to the Archivist.

FOIA News: Def. Nuclear Facilities Bd. finalizes FOIA regs

On March 3, 2026, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board issued a final rule, effective April 2, 2026, to modernize its FOIA regulations. The update aligns agency procedures with the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 and the OPEN Government Act of 2007, among other things. No public comments were received after the agency published a proposed rule on November 24, 2025.

Read the full Federal Register document here.