FOIA News: OGIS looks at proactive disclosure requirement

FOIA Improvement: Proactive Disclosure

OGIS Blog, July 12, 2017 

On June 30th we passed the one-year anniversary of the enactment of the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016. Over the past year we have published blog posts suggesting ways agencies can implement some of the amendments, including the requirement to update FOIA regulations and notify requesters about our dispute resolution services.

Today, we want to provide an update on agencies’ efforts to put another one of the bill’s provisions into action: a requirement that agencies identify records that are of general interest or use to the public that are appropriate for public disclosure

Read more here.

FOIA News: USDA sued for not expediting request about Tony the Tiger

Animal Legal Defense Fund sues USDA for denying Tony the Tiger as 'individual'

By KALB (ALDF press release), July 11, 2017

The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against the United States Department of Agriculture for refusing to recognize a captive tiger as an “individual” whose physical safety is at risk and refusing to expedite the organization’s public records request.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund is seeking records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) related to the health and well-being of Tony the Tiger, who has been confined at the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete for 16 years.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund sought expedited processing, which FOIA requires when delayed disclosure “could reasonably be expected to pose an imminent threat to the life or physical safety of an individual,” namely Tony the Tiger. The USDA denied the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s request, asserting that Tony is not an “individual” because the term applies only to humans. The Animal Legal Defense Fund does not agree.

Read more here.

Court opinions issued July 10, 2017

Singh v. U.S. Postal Serv. (W.D. Wash.) -- determining that agency performed a reasonable search for plaintiff's employment records and granted him access to all documents located.  

Smart-Tek Serv. Solutions Corp. v. IRS (S.D. Cal.) -- ruling that: (1) IRS failed to demonstrate that it performed reasonable search for responsive records; (2) IRS properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 3 (in conjunction with 26 U.S.C. 6103(e)(7)), 5, 7(A), and 7(D); (3) IRS failed to address whether records withheld under Exemption 7(E) revealed techniques unknown to public; and (4) judgment would be reserved as to Exemption 3 (in conjunction with 26 U.S.C. 6103(a)) and Exemption 6 until record was further developed.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Q&A: Show me the transcript

Q.   Do I need to go through the FOIA process to receive a court transcript of a criminal case that happened in Missouri a couple of years ago? 

A.  No.  Courts typically have their own procedures for obtaining records that is separate from FOIA.  Here is written guidance about obtaining court records in Missouri: http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/missouri-state-court-records.

Court opinion issued July 6, 2017

Harrison v. EOUSA (S.D. Cal.) -- concluding that agency performed adequate search for records concerning activities of Assistant United States Attorney with respect to plaintiff, a pro se inmate.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued July 5, 2017

Trucept v. IRS (S.D. Cal.) -- ruling that: (1) IRS failed to demonstrate that it performed reasonable search for responsive records; (2) IRS properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 5, 7(A), and 7(D); (3) IRS failed to address whether "Risk Score" withheld under Exemption 7(E) was technique unknown to public; and (4)  judgment would be reserved as to Exemptions 3, 6, and 7(C) until record was further developed.

Frost v. Wilkinson (N.D. Cal.) -- dismissing complaint because plaintiff improperly named an employee of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys as the defendant instead of the agency; stating in dicta that agency appeared to have conducted adequate search for records, which was sole issue in dispute.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

FOIA News: CoAI Sues NOAA for G-Chat Records

CoAI Sues NOAA for G-Chat Records Surrounding Controversial Amendment to Expand Industry-Funded At-Sea Monitoring

Cause of Action Institute, June 6, 2017

Cause of Action Institute (“CoA Institute”) today filed a lawsuit against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“NOAA”) for Google Chat or Hangouts communications from the New England Fishery Management Council’s (“NEFMC”) April 2017 meeting. The suit also seeks internal guidance on retention of Google Chat records on the agency’s internal messaging platform. NOAA failed to respond to two Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests submitted in May for these records.

The records sought by CoA Institute include guidance from NOAA’s Office of General Counsel for the retention of instant messages through the “Google Chat” or “Google Hangouts” feature of NOAA’s internal Unified Messaging System. According to a March 2012 NOAA handbook, employees were instructed that these messages “will be considered ‘off the record’ and will not be recorded in anyway.”

Read more here.

FOIA News: The SEC Guide to FOIA Appeals

The Securities and Exchange Commission's guide to better FOIA appeals

Beryl Lipton, MuckRock, July 5, 2017

Way back in March, we awarded the title of FOIA March Madness Champion to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for their swift response to this year’s tournament. This season’s challenge was, in part, to provide us with the letters FOIA appealers had submitted to win their documents, even after they’d been handed a rejection, redaction, or delay.

In the Independence Day spirit of civic engagement and disobedience, we took a look through some of the appeals to the SEC and pulled examples of successful pushback. Need a guide to crafting your own response to some common denials from the SEC or other agencies holding back your documents? Here’s your quick how-to in the words of those winning requesters themselves.

Read more here.

FOIA News: The CIA came up with 126 reasons to deny your FOIA request

CIA came up with 126 reasons to deny your FOIA request

Emma Best, MuckRock, July 6, 2017

Driven by its never-ending desire to have greater control of what information about its activities are made public, CIA drafted a SECRET report listing 126 things that the Agency could use to argue something was subject to the “sources and methods” protections. Intended to address difficulties censoring Victor Marchetti’s book on the Agency, the list was designed to be both “broad enough and specific enough” to include as much as possible. While the list has been used to help justify a number of FOIA withholdings, the list itself has been withheld … to protect the Agency’s intelligence sources and methods.

Read more here.

FOIA News: U.S. News weighs in on FOIA after 50 years

Defend Your Right to Know

Fifty years after the Freedom of Information Act, government transparency is again on the wane.

By Nicole Hemmer, U.S. News & World Report, July 5, 2017

Fifty years ago today, Washington witnessed a revolution. The Freedom of Information Act went into effect, establishing Americans' right to know. 

FOIA was a breathtaking accomplishment, the end result of a 12-year effort by John Moss, a Democratic congressman from California. The bill established that any citizen -- anyone, not just officeholders or journalists or well-connected insiders -- could ask the government for information, and the government had to respond. Every citizen had a right to know what the government was up to.

Read more here.