FOIA Advisor

FOIA News: Technical difficulties compromised DOJ's FOIA searches

FOIA News (2015-2023)Allan BlutsteinComment

Department of Justice Reveals ‘Glitch’ Shielded Officials From Public Scrutiny

A revelation that the Department of Justice failed to search the emails of some officials has it scrambling to redo open records requests.

By Betsy Woodruff, Daily Beast, Aug. 24, 2018

A technical glitch kept the Justice Department from reviewing all the email accounts it was supposed to for almost a year, according to a new, previously unreported court filing.

That means emails from some DOJ officials weren’t examined in response to records requests and lawsuits—so key emails that should have been made public months ago could have been inadvertently withheld. The department is now redoing records searches to try to belatedly fulfill requests.

Read more here.