Jobs, jobs, jobs: Weekly report Mar. 3, 2025

The 90-day hiring freeze imposed by the White House on January 20, 2025, has significantly reduced the number of fillable government FOIA positions. Below are vacancies that appear to be exempt from the freeze.

Att’y-Advisor, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./USCG, GS 13-14, Wash., DC, closes 3/3/25 (public).

Records & Info. Mgmt. Specialist, Dep't of Justice, OSG, GS 13, Wash., DC, closes 3/10/25 (non-public).

Att’y-Advisor, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./OGC, GS 14-15, Wash., DC, closes 3/12/25 (public).

Att’y-Advisor, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./OGC, GS 13-15, Wash., DC, closes 3/12/25 (public).

FOIA News: FOIA doesn’t apply to DOGE, notes DOJ

Trump Admin Argues DOGE Is Exempt From Records Requests in FOIA Lawsuit

Elon Musk promised "maximum transparency," but that apparently doesn't include Freedom of Information requests to DOGE.

By C.J. Ciaramella, Reason, Feb. 28, 2025

In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, the Trump administration is arguing that its much-hyped Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is exempt from public records requests.

Justice Department lawyers stated in a court filing Thursday that DOGE is no longer subject to FOIA requests after President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January moving DOGE, formerly U.S. Digital Services (USDS), out of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). OMB is subject to the public record law, unlike most of the offices and agencies within the Executive Office of the President.

"After January 20, 2025, USDS moved out of OMB and became a free-standing component of [the Executive Office of the President] that reports to the White House Chief of Staff," the government's motion stated in a footnote. "As a result, USDS is not subject to FOIA.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Transportation Dep't posts annual report

The Department of Transportation has published its annual FOIA report for fiscal year 2024. Below is a summary of the key statistics:

• 18,345 requests received, a 7 percent increase from FY 2023 (17,136).

• 16,080 requests processed, a 2.2 percent decrease from FY 2023 (16,458).

• 8,048 backlogged requests, a 36 percent increase from the end of FY 2023 (5,913).

• 166 appeals received, more than twice as many as it received in FY 2023 (78).

• 156 appeals processed, exactly twice as many as it processed in FY 2023 (78).

• 226 backlogged appeals, three fewer (229) from the end of FY 2023.

• Average responses time for processed perfected requests was 76.1 days for simple requests and 268.5 days for complex requests. NHTSA had the slowest response times of all components: 127.5 average days for simple requests and 552.1 average days for complex requests.

• $17.2 million in total processing and litigation-related costs, a 7.5 percent decrease from the $18.6 million in total costs incurred in FY 2023.

FOIA News: Defense Dep't posts annual report

The Department of Defense has published its annual FOIA report for fiscal year 2024. Below is a summary of the key statistics:

• 61,858 requests received, a 2.9 percent increase from FY 2023 (60,109).

• 57,662 requests processed, a 3.4 percent increase from FY 2023 (55,731).

• 21,436 backlogged requests, a 7.8 percent increase from the end of FY 2023 (19,882).

• 1105 appeals received, only three fewer than it received in FY 2023 (1108).

• 1105 appeals processed, a 12.8 percent decrease from FY 2023 (1247)

• 607 backlogged appeals, down 17.5 percent from the end of FY 2023 (736)

• Average responses time for processed perfected requests was 30.3 days for simple requests and 199.7 days for complex requests.

• $104.9 million in total processing and litigation-related costs, a 16.5 percent increase from the $90 million in total costs incurred in FY 2023.

FOIA News: Annual reports, where art ye?

Five agencies that typically receive the most FOIA requests annually, DHS, DOJ, DOD, NARA, and Veteran Affairs, have not yet published their annual reports due on March 1st. Additionally, the government’s central website for FOIA has not been update to include annual date for fiscal year 2024. We’ll keep you updated.

Court opinions issued Feb. 24, 2024

Turse v. DOD (D.D.C.) — in a case concerning records about a US drone strike in Somalia, granting the agency’s motion for summary judgment and concluding that its withholding of a PowerPoint slide and Army Regulation 15-6 Report of Investigation under Exemption 1 was appropriate; noting the agency’s declaration adequately described why the records at issue were classified and how disclosure would harm national security; rejecting the requester’s contention that the records were classified “for a prohibited purpose” for lack of evidence; similarly rejecting the requester’s arguments that the agency failed to satisfy the FOIA’s foreseeable-harm standard.

Dawkins v. FBI (E.D.N.Y.) — deciding that FBI performed an adequate search for any surveillance records about pro se plaintiff and his residence; plaintiff was not entitled to in camera review of documents because FBI’s declaration sufficiently detailed its search methodology and explained why it withheld certain records; plaintiff’s request for a court order ending FBI’s alleged surveillance could not be considered because plaintiff failed to raise those allegations in his complaint.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2025 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2024 and from 2015 to 2023.

Court opinion issued Feb. 21, 2025

Hvistendahi v. DOJ (S.D.N.Y.) -- in case concerning an Office of Inspector General’s report about personal misconduct of FBI employees overseas, concluding that: (1) FBI established that dates and locations of the misconduct, as well as the direct quotations from OIG interviews, implicated personal privacy interests under Exemption 7(C), but those interests were outweighed by a “significant public interest” in disclosure; and (2) FBI properly relied on Exemption 7(C) to withhold the “unsubstantiated allegations against FBI officials and the reasons why OIG found them unsubstantiated.”

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2025 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2024 and from 2015 to 2023.

Court opinions issued Feb. 20, 2025

Am. Oversight v. DOJ (D.D.C.) — denying plaintiff’s request expedited processing in a case concerning access to volume two of former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on the possession of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago; holding that the motion for preliminary injunctive relief did not establish how the relief sought (specifically, disclosure of the report before any Senate confirmation vote on Kash Patel) would alleviate any ostensibly irreparable harm, in large part because another court has already enjoined DOJ from releasing the report “no matter what exemption decisions it makes”; questioning also whether the requester’s motion even seeks the type of injunctive relief permitted in the FOIA context.

The Brady Ctr. to Prevent Gun Violence v. FBI (D.D.C.) — determining that the FBI failed to show that disclosure of an agency’s standard operating procedures for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System would enable individuals to circumvent the law for purposes of Exemption 7(E); reserving judgment on the FBI’s segregability analysis until after the agency renewed its summary judgment motion or altered its withholdings; granting summary judgment to the FBI on non-contested information withheld under Exemption 5 and Exemption 7(E).

Magassa v. TSA (D.D.C.) — ruling that: (1) TSA properly relied on Exemption 3 in conjunction with 49 U.S.C. § 114(r) to withhold records concerning the plaintiff, a former employee of Delta Airlines whose security credentials were revoked; (2) TSA properly invoked Exemption 3 in refusing to confirm or deny the existence of records indicating whether plaintiff is on a federal watch list; and (3) TSA substantiated its Exemption 5’s attorney-client and attorney work-product privilege redactions for records generated during the course of administrative proceedings concerning the plaintiff’s revoked security credentials.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2025 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2024 and from 2015 to 2023.

FOIA News: CFO tech committee issues white paper

New White Paper on FOIA Data from Chief FOIA Officer Council Technology Committee’s Working Group

BY DOJ/OIP, FOIA Post, Feb. 24, 2025

A white paper issued by the Chief FOIA Officer (CFO) Council Technology Committee’s Data Working Group (DWG) has been posted to FOIA.gov.  The white paper summarizes the DWG’s work, which included interviews with other FOIA programs to gain a better understanding of how they utilize data in managing their operations and how FOIA programs respond to FOIA requests for data.

Read more here.

Jobs, jobs, jobs: Weekly report Feb. 24, 2025

The 90-day hiring freeze imposed by the White House on January 20, 2025, has significantly reduced the number of fillable government FOIA positions. Below are vacancies that appear to be exempt from the freeze.

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Army, GS 9, Fort Jackson, SC, closes 2/26/25 (non-public)

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Army, GS 12, Fort Belvoir, closes 2/28/25 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Army, GS 11, Fort Belvoir, closes 2/28/25 (non-public).

Att’y-Advisor, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./USCG, GS 13-14, Wash., DC, closes 3/3/25 (public).

Att’y-Advisor, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./OGC, GS 14-15, Wash., DC, closes 3/12/25 (public).

Att’y-Advisor, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./OGC, GS 13-15, Wash., DC, closes 3/12/25 (public).