Why a FOIA workforce shortage? Employees may see work as ‘punishment’
Jory Heckman, Fed. News Network, Oct. 30, 2018
Agencies receive more Freedom of Information Act requests now than ever before. But their workforces haven’t kept up with the growing demand.
“This is particularly challenging the federal government , especially lately where there has been a perception that the FOIA is where employees are assigned as a form of punishment,” Alina Semo, the director of the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) said last week at a forum on records management at the National Archives and Records Administration.
Last year, the government received more than 800,000 FOIA requests, but agencies only have about 4,500 FOIA officers to handle that growing caseload.
Anecdotally, agency employees have viewed details to FOIA offices as a disciplinary measure. Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reportedly reassigned employees to the agency’s FOIA office during his tenure. The agency has one of the higher FOIA backlogs in government.
Officials told news outlets that getting sent to work in the FOIA office was like getting sent “to Siberia.” Secretary Mike Pompeo stopped the so-called “FOIA surge” once he took over.
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