FOIA News: Federal agencies processed record-high 822k FOIA requests in FY 2017

According to data entered on DOJ's website FOIA.gov, federal agencies processed 822,182 FOIA requests in fiscal year (FY) 2017, which is an increase of 8.2% from FY 2016 (759,842 requests). This is the first time that agencies have processed more than 800,000 requests in a fiscal year.  As reported earlier, agencies also received a record-high number of requests in FY 2017 (818,275).

The fifteen cabinet agencies collectively processed 664,515 FOIA requests, or 80.8 percent of the total FOIA requests processed government-wide.  Only 5 of the cabinet agencies, however, processed more requests than they received in FY 2017: Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Labor, State, and Veterans Affairs.  Notably, the State Department was able to reduce the number of its pending requests in FY 2017 from 27,852 to 13,804. 

The least productive cabinet agencies were Housing and Urban Development, Interior, and Education, which failed to process 32%, 26%, and 25% percent of their requests on hand, respectively.  Two of the least productive non-cabinet agencies were the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which processed only 42% and 46% percent of their request inventories, respectively.   

DOJ's Office of Information Policy is expected to shortly release a detailed summary of all FY 2017 annual reports. 

FOIA News: ICYMI, DOJ's 2017 FOIA litigation report available

List of FOIA cases received in calendar year 2017 is here.  699 filings by our calculation.

List of court decisions issued in calendar year 2017 is here, including awards of attorney fees and costs.

Court opinion issued Mar. 2, 2018

Rockwood v. BOP (D.D.C.) -- granting government's renewed summary judgment motion because agency dropped Exemption 7(E) as sole basis for withholding certain records and plaintiff conceded that no genuine dispute existed. 

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

FOIA News: Gov't litigation costs exceeded $40 million in FY 2017

Federal agencies incurred a record-high $40,387,920 in litigation-related costs in fiscal year (FY) 2017, according to data entered on DOJ's website FOIA.gov.  This represents a 11.8 percent increase from FY 2016, when litigation costs reached $36.2 million.

The cabinet agencies with the highest litigation costs were the Departments of Justice ($13.6 million), State ($9.5 million), and Defense ($4 million), while Housing and Urban Development ($0) and Education ($207k) had the lowest litigation costs.  Combined, the 15 cabinet agencies racked up $36 million in litigation costs, which constitutes 89 percent of the litigation costs incurred by the entire federal government.  Of the non-cabinet agencies, the highest litigation costs were incurred by Central Intelligence Agency ($2.5 million) and the Environmental Protection Agency ($931k).  

DOJ's Office of Information Policy is expected to shortly release a detailed summary of all FY 2017 annual reports. 

Court opinion issued Mar. 1, 2018

Beard v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng'rs (E.D. La.) -- concluding that agency failed to justify withholding of 154 emails and attachments pursuant to Exemption 5 and ordering production of amended Vaughn index.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

FOIA News: FOIA requests top 800k in FY 2017, according to DOJ data

According to data entered on DOJ's website FOIA.gov, the federal government received 818,275 FOIA requests in fiscal year (FY) 2017 -- an increase of 29,506 requests (or 3.7 percent) from fiscal year 2016, when the government received 788,769 requests.

The agencies receiving the largest number of requests were the Department of Homeland Security (366,036), Department of Justice (82,088), National Archives and Records Administration (60,337), Department of Defense (55,198), and Health and Human Services (34,978).  In sum, these five agencies received 598,637 requests, which accounts for 73 percent of all requests received by all agencies during the fiscal year.

Of the 15 cabinet agencies, the Department of State and the Department of Veterans Affairs experienced the steepest decreases in requests over the past fiscal year.  State received 20,276 fewer requests (a 72 percent decrease), while Veterans Affairs received 10,273 fewer requests (a 30 percent decrease).  By contrast, the sharpest increases in requests received by cabinet agencies were experienced by Education (19 percent), DHS (12 percent), and Energy (12 percent).

DOJ's Office of Information Policy is expected to shortly release a detailed summary of all agency FY 2017 annual reports. 

Court opinions issued Feb. 28, 2018

Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Wash. (D.D.C.) -- dismissing suit seeking disclosure of "all existing and future . . . formal opinions" issued by the Office of Legal Counsel, because "at least some of the documents sought are to subject to FOIA Exemption 5."  

Muckrock v. CIA (D.D.C.) -- finding that:  (1) CIA has employed policy of categorically refusing to process plaintiff's requests for email records that do not specify "to and "from" recipients, time frame, and subject, and that agency's per se policy violates FOIA; and (2) agency conducted adequate search and properly invoked Exemption 3, in conjunction with National Security Act of 1947, to withhold disputed records in whole or in part.

Flores v. DOJ (2nd Cir.) -- summarily affirming district court's decision that agency performed adequate search.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

FOIA News: DOJ releases FOIA data for FY 2017

DOJ's website FOIA.gov now includes data for fiscal year 2017.   See link here.   DOJ also has posted copies of annual FOIA reports here.

FOIA News: HUD & DOJ sued for LGBT-related records

Groups sue HUD, DOJ for documents over LGBT decisions

By Lydia Wheeler, The Hill, Mar. 1, 2018

Two liberal advocacy groups are suing the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Justice Department for documents they say show agency officials are quietly making policy decisions that harm LGBT people.

People for the American Way and Right Wing Watch (RWW) say in the 10-page lawsuit, filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, that the agencies have failed to respond to their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests within the law’s applicable time-frame.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Senior HUD official claims to have been disallowed to oversee processing of Trump-related request

HUD official says she was demoted after raising concerns over Ben Carson's office redecorating costs

Los Angeles Times, Feb. 28, 2018

A week before Ben Carson was confirmed as secretary of Housing and Urban Development, a career official at the agency complained to a colleague about the hours she had to spend curtailing plans to redecorate his office.

Helen Foster, then HUD's chief administration officer, wrote in an email that she had to answer "endless questions about why I won't fund more than the $5000 limit" for redecorating the office. "I do like 3 meetings a day on that," she wrote on Feb. 22, 2017. "I hate this."

Foster was transferred to a new position in July, and she later told a watchdog agency that she believed she was demoted in retaliation for concerns she expressed about office expenses and potential violations of open-records laws. Foster said she had been excluded from handling Freedom of Information Act requests filed by the Democratic National Committee — even though she oversaw department FOIA responses as part of her duties — because one of President Trump's appointees believed she was a Democrat.

Read more here.