FOIA News: OIP Publishes Summary of Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Reports

SUMMARY OF FISCAL YEAR 2021 ANNUAL FOIA REPORTS PUBLISHED

By DOJ/OIP. FOIA Post, July 21, 2022

The Office of Information Policy (OIP) has released its Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021.  This summary provides a synopsis of FOIA activities across the government during the previous fiscal year, looks at key statistics in FOIA administration, and identifies trends in FOIA processing.  Each summary serves as a resource for both agencies and the public to gain an understanding of overall FOIA administration.

Read more here.

Court opinion issued July 15, 2022

Shapiro v. FBI (D.C. Cir. ) -- affirming, in most respects, district court’s decision that FBI performed adequate search for voluminous records related to the animal rights movement, but remanding case to fill in gap concerning certain electronic surveillance records.

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

Court opinion issued July 14, 2022

Adams v. CIA (D.D.C.) -- finding that: (1) agency performed reasonable search for records concerning himself and the agency; (2) agency properly withheld certain records pursuant to Exemptions 1 and 3; and (3) agency properly refused to confirm or deny the existence of certain records pursuant to Exemptions 1 and 3, but it failed to demonstrate that all of its Glomar responses were appropriate.

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

FOIA News: Exemption 4 webinar

The law firm of PilieroMazza will be hosting an Exemption 4 webinar on September 15, 2022. See details here.

FOIA News: Meet the OIP Director

An updated profile of the Director of the Office of Information Policy was posted on July 13, 2022.

FOIA News: More quarterly backlog data

By popular demand, here is a rundown of how additional cabinet agencies have been managing their request backlogs since the end of fiscal year 2021.

• Agriculture: 2081 requests (FY21) to 2334 (FY22, 2nd qtr.), a 12.1 percent increase

• Commerce: 773 requests (FY21) to 925 (FY22, 2nd qtr.), a 19.6 percent increase

• Energy: 808 requests (FY21) to 773 (FY22, 1st qtr.), a 4.3 percent decrease

• Health & Human Serv.: 9955 requests (FY21) to 11293 (FY22, 2nd qtr.), a 13.4 percent increase

• Housing & Urban Development: 808 requests (FY21) to 808 (FY22, 2nd qtr.), no change

• Interior: 4484 requests (FY21) to 4540 (FY22, 2nd qtr.), a 1.2 percent increase

• Labor: 1216 requests (FY21) to 1287 (FY22, 1st qtr.), a 5.8 percent increase

• Transportation: 4811 requests (FY21) to 5294 (FY22, 2nd qtr.), a 10 percent increase.

• Treasury: 2280 requests (FY21) to 2618 (FY22, 2nd qtr.), a 14.8 percent increase

FOIA News: ICYMI, OIP updates the FOIA Guide

On June 3, 2022, the Office of Information Policy posted an updated version of the Exclusions section of the Guide to the Freedom of Information Act.

When reached for comment, a DOJ spokesperson stated that OIP had conducted a search and found no evidence of any changes.

FOIA News: Request backlogs climbing at DHS and DOJ; steadier at DOD

The FOIA request backlog of the Department of Homeland Security, which receives the most requests of any federal agency, increased by 89 percent—from 25,102 requests to 47, 511— between September 30, 2022, and December 31, 2021, according to quarterly data posted on FOIA.gov. The department’s data has not yet been posted for the second quarter of fiscal year 2022 ending on March 31, 2022.

At the Department of Justice, which received the second highest number of requests in FY 2021, the request backlog climbed nearly 22 percent—from 49,959 requests o 60,877, between September 30, 2021, and March 31, 2022.

The request backlog is increasing at a slower pace at Department of Defense, the third most popular agency for requesters in FY 2021. Specifically, DOD’s request backlog increased by 6.7 percent—from 17,597 requests to 18,781—between September 30, 2021, and March 31, 2022.

FOIA News: Export-Import Bank amends FOIA regulations

The Export-Import Bank of the United States issued a final rule in the Federal Register that amends its FOIA regulations. A proposed rule was published in March of this year. The effective date of the final rule is August 10, 2022.

Court opinions issued July 8, 2022

Behar v. DHS (2d Cir.) -- reversing district court’s decision and holding that: (1) records obtained by the Secret Service from Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and transition were not “agency records” because agency did not control them; and (2) even if disputed records qualified as agency records, they were protected from disclosure under Exemption 7(C).

O'Brien v. DOJ (E.D. Pa.) -- determining that FBI properly withheld records concerning plaintiff’s co-defendant pursuant to Exemptions 3, 6, 7(A), 7(C), 7(D), and 7(E).

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