FOIA News: FOIA Advisory Committee meeting

The FOIA Advisory Committee is meeting virtually on Thursday, March 10, 2022, from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Members of the public may attend if registered by March 8, 2022. Additional information is available here.

FOIA News: FOIA makes appearance in NYT crossword

The March 6th crossword puzzle of the New York Times used “FOIA” as the four-letter answer to the hint “Records request inits.” See 98 across below.

FOIA News: Sunshine Week events

Sunshine Week will be observed this year from March 13, 2022, through March 18, 2022. Three virtual events have been schedule by federal agencies.

On March 14, 2022, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., the Department of Justice will host its twelfth annual Sunshine Week event, which will be broadcast via livestream.

On March 14, 2022, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., the National Archives and Records Administration will livestream a conversation moderated by philanthropist David M. Rubenstein between the Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero and the Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden.

On March 16, 2022, the Department of Commerce’s Office of Privacy and Open Government is hosting a virtual Annual Sunshine Week Event & Expo. This event features a full day of sessions and a virtual vendor hall.

FOIA News: Chief FOIA Officer Reports for FY 2022 to be posted shortly

The Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy will soon post Chief FOIA Officer Reports for fiscal year 2022 from all federal agencies, according to a government source who contacted FOIA Advisor. A few reports can now be found on agency websites:

• Social Security Administration

• Commodity Futures Trading Commission

• Dep’t of Health & Human Serv.

• Dep’t of Transportation

• Inter-American Foundation

DOJ/OIP will post Chief FOIA Officer Reports here.

Court opinions issued Mar. 1, 2022

Braun v. USPS (D.D.C.) -- finding that agency performed adequate search for records pertaining to plaintiff and properly invoked Exemption 7(C) to redact identities of law enforcement personnel.

Bagwell v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- in case involving records of investigations into possible child sexual abuse on Penn State’s campus, concluding that: (1) Executive Office for United States Attorneys could not categorically withhold set of records consisting of 11,648 pages of emails pursuant to Exemptions 3 (FRCP 6(e)), 6, 7(C), and 7(D); and (2) EOUSA properly relied on Exemptions 3 (FRCP 6(e)) and Exemption 5 (attorney work-product) to withhold second set of records; and (3) foreseeable harm provision enacted in 2016 did not retroactively apply to request made in 2014.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinion issued Feb. 28, 2022

Naumes v. Dep’t of the Army (D.D.C.) -- ruling that: (1) Army performed reasonable search for records concerning online survey, but ordering agency to produce webpages available as embedded links in documents already released to plaintiff; (2) with respect to agency’s use of Exemption 4 to withhold survey questions from copyrighted sources, (a) agency failed to explain whether it copied or modified questions from the copyrighted sources; (b) agency must release withheld questions from any sources which are available publicly at no charge; (c) agency must confer with copyright holders for remaining non-public source materials about whether they treat those materials as confidential; (3) agency sufficiently showed foreseeable harm from disclosing copyrighted information.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

FOIA News: DOJ issues 2021 litigation and compliance report

The Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy has released its FOIA 2021 litigation and compliance report. Among other information, DOJ reported that 608 FOIA decisions were issued by federal district courts during calendar year 2021.

FOIA News: New virtual training dates announced by OIP

OIP ANNOUNCES NEW FOIA TRAINING DATES FOR SPRING AND SUMMER

DOJ/OIP. FOIA Post, Mar. 3, 2022

Today, the Office of Information Policy (OIP) announces new dates for FOIA training for the months of March through July.  As part of its responsibility to encourage agency compliance with the FOIA, OIP offers several training opportunities throughout the year for agency FOIA professionals and individuals with FOIA responsibilities.  These courses have been designed to offer training opportunities for personnel from all stages of the FOIA workforce, from new hires to the experienced FOIA professionals or FOIA managers.  OIP will continue to offer virtual training sessions that will be taught in real-time by OIP instructors.  As we move into the remainder of Fiscal Year 2022, we are pleased to announce these virtual training courses, which are also available on OIP’s Eventbrite page.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Summary of FY 2021 annual reports

We have crunched the data of 118 agencies available on FOIA.gov for fiscal year 2021. Here are the highlights with comparisons to FY 2020:

• 838,164 requests received, an increase of 6 percent from FY 2020 (790,688 requests)

• 838,668 requests processed, an increase of 8.5 percent from FY 2020 (772,869 requests)

• 15,468 appeals received, an increase of 3.5 percent from FY 2020 (14,943 appeals)

• 15,522 appeals processed, an increase of 1.8 percent from FY 2020 (15,244 appeals)

• 153,227 backlogged requests, an increase of 8 percent from FY 2020 (141,762 requests)

• 4,734 backlogged appeals, a decrease of 6.7 percent from FY 2020 (5,072 appeals)

• $38.5 million litigation costs a decrease of 10.1 percent from FY 2020 ($42.8 million)

• $522.8 million administrative processing costs, a decrease of 5.4 percent from FY 2020 ($552.9 million)

• $2.09 million fees collected from requesters, a decrease of less than 1 percent from FY 2020 ($2.11 million)

The largest number of requests were received by the following agencies:

1. Dep’t of Homeland Security: 442,650 requests (52.8 percent of government’s overall total)

2. Dep’t of Justice: 97,490 requests (11.6 percent)

3. Dep’t of Defense: 52,805 requests (6.3 percent)

4. Dep’t of Health & Human Services: 33,158 requests (3.9 percent)

5. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs: 27,762 requests (3.3 percent)

6. Dep’t of Agriculture: 20,956 requests (2.5 percent)

7. Small Business Administration: 18,127 requests (2.1 percent)

8. Dep’t of Transportation: 15,740 requests (1.8 percent)

9. Equal Employment Opportunity Comm’n.: 15,320 (1.8 percent)

10. Dep’t of Labor: 13,560 (1.6 percent)

Of note: in FY 2020, the National Archives and Records Administration occupied the fifth spot with 25,738 requests received. That figure dropped to 7,725 requests (the fifteenth spot) in FY 2021.

FOIA News: DOD releases annual report

The U.S. Department of Defense released its annual FOIA report for fiscal year 2021, which reportedly cost the agency $158,000 to prepare. Highlights include:

• 52,805 requests received, a decrease of 2.3 percent from FY 2020 (54,023 requests)

• 50,703 requests processed, an increase of 1.4 percent from FY 2020 (50,006 requests)

• 17,597 backlogged requests, an increase of 10 percent from FY 2020 (16,000 requests)

• 32.03 average days to process simple requests, an increase of 36 percent from FY 2020 (25.55 days)

• 351.61 average days to process complex requests, an increase of 55.5 percent from FY 2020 (226.12 days)

• Total FOIA costs: $105,262,515, a 10.2 percent increase from FY 2020 ($95,483,885)