Each year the federal courts issue hundreds of decisions in Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) cases, addressing all aspects of the law.  These decisions shape the way the law is interpreted and applied by the thousands of attorneys and access professionals across the government who handle FOIA requests, administrative appeals, and litigation.  To aid those professionals, and to facilitate greater understanding of the FOIA overall, in March 2007 our office began publishing monthly summaries of significant FOIA decisions.  In an effort to improve access to these summaries, in 2011 we established a separate Court Decisions page which organized all the summaries by topic as well as chronologically. 

Today, we are proud to announce the launch of a new Court Decisions page and the most significant update to this FOIA resource since its introduction.  The new, enhanced Court Decisions page adds two powerful features for viewing and searching through our case summaries while continuing to allow users to view these summaries by topic and chronologically. 

The first new feature improves upon users’ ability to view case summaries by specific topics, such as “Exemption 5″ or “Agency Records.”  Users will now be able to view full summaries of significant FOIA decisions related to a certain topic by simply selecting that topic from the “View Court Decisions by Topic” drop down menu on the right side of the page.  Previously, these summaries were sorted into separate topical pages, with each page only containing those portions of the case summary that were relevant to the specific topic selected.  For example, a court may have addressed both an agency’s use of Exemption 5 and Exemption 6 in its decision, but the topical page for Exemption 5 would only list the relevant information for that exemption.  On the new Court Decisions page, users are able to view the entire summary of the court’s decision, including those portions relevant to the selected topic.  Additionally, the summaries are fully tagged with all relevant topical categories, which can easily be accessed at the bottom of each summary.  This allows users to continue their search of new topics as they read through case summaries.

The second feature for the first time provides the capability for case summaries to be searched using any keywords or phrases that are of interest.  Through the “Search Court Decisions 2013 – Present” feature on the right side of the page, users may search for keywords such as “contracts” or “e-mail” to find all summaries that mention these terms.  Searches can even be conducted by specific courts.  For example, a search using the terms “Exemption 6″ and “S.D.N.Y” would produce all of the decisions involving Exemption 6 from the District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The new Court Decisions page contains all case summaries decided since January 2013 and each summary is posted based on the date the decision was issued by the court.  As more decisions are added, the list of available topical categories will be expanded to cover all the areas addressed by the courts.  We hope that the enhancements made to this new page will continue to make these summaries a valuable FOIA resource for both agencies and the public. 

For court decision summaries from March 2007 to December 2008, please visit the FOIA Post archive.  Decision summaries from January 2009 to December 2012 are available in the Court Decisions Archive.

This past January, OIP issued guidance to all agencies on implementation of a new FOIA reporting requirement.  As announced by OIP, all agencies are now required to post four key FOIA statistics each quarter of the fiscal year which are then also displayed on FOIA.gov.  Agencies began posting their quarterly reports for Quarter 1 of Fiscal Year 2013 in January 2013.  On January 28, 2013, the Department launched a new feature on FOIA.gov that displays each agency’s quarterly report data.      

As detailed in OIP’s Quarterly Reporting Guidance, agencies are now required to report on the following four statistics on a quarterly basis:

• the number of requests received during the reporting period,
• the number of requests processed during the reporting period,
• the number of requests in an agency’s backlog at the end of the reporting period, and
• the progress being made to close the agency’s ten overall oldest pending FOIA requests from the prior fiscal year.

By requiring agencies to submit this data on a quarterly basis, rather than after the end of each fiscal year, the Department is enhancing the public’s ability to more regularly track agencies’ progress in processing FOIA requests, while at the same time encouraging agencies to focus on areas critical to improving their overall administration of the FOIA. 

Agencies as well as the public can view quarterly report data by going to FOIA.gov, selecting the “Reports” tab, and clicking the “Find an Agency Report” button.  Once an agency’s Snapshot Report is selected, users may toggle between viewing key statistics from the agency’s most recent Annual FOIA Report and its quarterly data.

The next deadline for agencies to submit their data for Quarter 2 of Fiscal Year 2013 will be May 3, 2013.  Moving forward after this deadline, agencies will be required to post their quarterly report data no later than the last Friday of the month which follows the end of the quarter.  Accordingly, for the rest of Fiscal Year 2013, the quarterly report deadlines are:

Quarter 2, Fiscal Year 2013:  May 3, 2013
Quarter 3, Fiscal Year 2013:  July 26, 2013
Quarter 4, Fiscal Year 2014:  October 25, 2013

OIP has updated its Quarterly Reporting Guidance to include this schedule of deadlines and to address frequently asked questions.  If your agency has additional questions about this updated guidance or about the quarterly reporting requirements in general, you can contact OIP’s Quarterly Reports Team at DOJ.OIP.FOIA@usdoj.gov.   

Since the signing of both his FOIA and Transparency and Open Government memoranda on his first full day in office, President Obama has committed to “creating an unprecedented level of openness in government.”  Attorney General Eric Holder, in his FOIA Guidelines issued in March 2009, built on these directives, instructing agencies on how to apply the presumption of openness called for by the President and emphasizing the need for agencies to release records proactively and promptly and to utilize technology in FOIA administration.

Seeking to do still more, in September 201o, at a speech to the United Nations, the President challenged countries around the world to join the United States in adopting “specific commitments to strengthen the foundations of freedom.”  A year later, the President joined seven global leaders, as well as a group of international civil society organizations, to launch the Open Government Partnership. This was followed by release of the U.S.  National Action Plan (PDF), which highlighted “a set of twenty-six concrete commitments that help increase public integrity, promote public participation, manage public resources more effectively, and improve public services.”

Two of the commitments in the National Action Plan focused on continued improvements in the administration of the FOIA by:

• Professionalizing FOIA administration through creation of a new civil service personnel category for officials who specialize in FOIA and other government information programs, and
• Expanding use of technology to achieve greater efficiencies in FOIA administration, including utilization of technology to assist in searching for and processing records, as well as to ensure that information posted by agencies online is searchable and readily usable by the public.

Last week, the White House released an assessment on the implementation of this National Action Plan (PDF).  Included within the assessment was a discussion of the work done to fulfill the two commitments related to FOIA administration.  The assessment highlights that agencies have made improvements to FOIA administration, by, among other things, “significantly improve[ing] the average processing times for requests” and reducing the backlog of pending requests by 46% since 2008.  The assessment also evaluates the two key FOIA initiatives that were part of the National Action Plan.

As to creation of a distinct job series for FOIA professionals, as previously described by the Office of Information Policy (OIP), the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced the creation of the Government Information Series during Sunshine Week 2012.  The new job series recognizes the professional nature of the work of FOIA and Privacy Act professionals who are “responsible for promoting accountability and transparency while safeguarding certain types of vital government information.”  The assessment notes that:

“[t]he Administration is proud that this commitment has been met, but also recognizes that the task of professionalizing FOIA is not over.  The U.S. Government will continue to work to ensure that human resources professionals across the government understand this new job series and give this job series the proper elevation that it deserves.”

As to expanded use of technology, the assessment declares that “[t]echnology has the potential to transform FOIA administration,” and describes the “significant steps” taken by agencies to increase their use of technology in the administration of FOIA.   The assessment notes that over “one hundred offices across the U.S. Government are now employing web portals that allow the public to electronically submit a FOIA request.”  The assessment recognizes that “[o]ne of the most common difficulties in processing FOIA requests is the large amount of time spent by FOIA personnel searching for, de-duplicating, and conducting initial responsiveness reviews on records.”  To meet that challenge the assessment describes that several agencies “have replaced time-intensive manual processes with software applications that automatically” do many of these tasks.  The assessment also highlights OIP’s recently completed pilot program on leveraging digital tools in the processing of FOIA requests, as well as OIP’s FOIA Technology Working Group, which serves as a forum for agencies to exchange ideas on uses of technology, a forum that is particularly important given that, as the assessment recognizes, “FOIA tools are not one-size-fits-all.”

The Justice Department’s government-wide FOIA resource, FOIA.gov, had a number of enhancements incorporated into the site since its launch during Sunshine Week 2011, which were noted in the assessment.  The addition of quarterly FOIA metrics (as well as the web based tool used to collect these statistics) and the site’s “Find” feature are just two of the enhancements made to the flagship initiative of the Justice Department’s Open Government Plan (version 1.0) (PDF).

Noting that progress continues to be made in the use of technology both to improve FOIA administration and to enhance the availability of government information online, the assessment describes some of the  upcoming efforts by OIP in this area.  For example,  the assessment highlights OIP’s issuance of further guidance on the use of metadata when posting records to “allow for the creation of a virtual government-wide FOIA Library” and OIP’s development of “an online training course about the FOIA to be available to all federal employees in keeping with the Attorney General’s mandate that FOIA is everyone’s responsibility.”

The assessment acknowledges that the processing of FOIA requests is a “fundamentally labor intensive task, and working to improve timeliness is especially difficult at a time when initial requests have been steadily increasing and budgets have been decreasing.”  By focusing on technology and “providing agencies and FOIA professionals with new tools and expanding access to training online,” the assessment concludes that “the Administration is working hard to fulfill its commitment to improve transparency through further use of technology.”

These are just a few of the important initiatives contained within the assessment and the National Action Plan itself.  As noted by the Justice Department after the United States entry into the Open Government Partnership:

“An open and good government is much more than releasing information.  It is about harnessing the skill and talents of the American people, establishing greater collaboration among Federal agencies, and ensuring that the taxpayer’s money is wisely spent.”

The Department is fully committed to the principles that the President announced on his first day in office.  Today and in the days ahead, both OIP and the Justice Department will continue their efforts to improve the administration of the FOIA across the government.  While there is still work to be done, the Department and the Administration remain “committed to continuing this work.”

For more information on the Department’s Open Government efforts, please visit the Open Government Page.  For the latest developments in FOIA, continue to follow FOIA Post, and for the latest news from the Justice Department, please visit The Justice Blog.

As a part of OIP’s ongoing efforts to explore different ways to leverage technology tools in order to improve FOIA administration across the government, yesterday our office convened a meeting of the FOIA IT Working Group.  Serving as a forum for agency personnel to both discuss the application of technological and digital tools to various aspects of FOIA administration and share best practices in the use of such technologies, the FOIA IT Working Group continues to explore how to harness the power of technology to find efficiencies in the processing of FOIA requests.

During this Sunshine Week meeting, and joined by stakeholders from the open government community, the Working Group discussed many important aspects of how to promote a culture of openness through the use of technology.  Director Melanie Ann Pustay provided details on OIP’s recently published guidance on the use of uniform metadata tagging for FOIA documents posted online in FOIA Libraries.  She was joined by staff from the Department’s Civil Division to discuss the Department’s recently completed digital-FOIA pilot program.  The Working Group also discussed how social media platforms could be used as a tool to inform the public of the availability of government operational and policy documents which agencies make available to the public proactively without the need for a FOIA request, and some of the challenges that agencies face when posting material and documents online.

As the discussion turned to the topic of working with electronic files, the representatives from the open government groups in attendance raised the general topic of electronic communication with requesters.    As more organizations continue to submit requests and send correspondence to agencies through electronic means, the representatives noted that they receive hard copies of documents.  Though members of the Working Group discussed why some agencies may still prefer to communicate by paper or be constrained in their efforts to communicate electronically, OIP believes that the use of electronic communication represents a simple and easy way to create efficiencies in communicating with requesters and responding to requests in a timely manner.  Director Pustay informed the group that she believed this was a good subject to be addressed by OIP Guidance. 

OIP has previously issued guidance on The Importance of Good Communication with FOIA Requesters, and with yesterday’s discussion, we now will look to issue new and updated guidance regarding the use of electronic means to communicate with requesters.  As OIP looks to draft this guidance, if you would like to share your thoughts on the effective use of electronic communication during the FOIA process from either the requester or agency view point, please send us an e-mail at DOJ.OIP.FOIA@usdoj.gov with the subject “Views on Electronic Communication.”  The input received both from agency personnel and the requester community will prove valuable in the drafting of this guidance.

As agencies continue to explore how to harness technology and digital tools in the administration of the FOIA, the FOIA IT Working Group will continue to meet in order share the latest developments across the government.  Details on the next meeting will be announced here on FOIA Post and on Twitter at @FOIAPost as they are finalized.

Director Pustay before the Senate Judiciary Committee

This morning Office of Information Policy Director Melanie Ann Pustay appeared before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary in a hearing entitled “We the People: Fulfilling the Promise of Open Government Five Years After the OPEN Government Act.”  Signed into law on December 31, 2007, the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National (OPEN) Government Act of 2007 represented the first time in over a decade that Congress had enacted amendments to the FOIA. 

• Significant FOIA metrics from fiscal year 2012 Annual FOIA Reports, such as a 45% reduction in request backlogs in the last four years and improved timeliness in responding to requests,
• Examples of the success achieved by agencies in the five key areas addressed by Attorney General Holder’s FOIA Guidelines, as reported in agency 2013 Chief FOIA Officer Reports,
• Details on updates and improvements to FOIA.gov, most notably the inclusion of quarterly FOIA metrics from federal agencies, and
• Efforts undertaken by the Justice Department to encourage compliance with the FOIA by all agencies, and to ensure “that President Obama’s Memorandum on the FOIA and Attorney General Holder’s FOIA Guidelines are fully implemented.”

Director Pustay also detailed efforts undertaken by the Department and OIP to “inform and educate agency personnel on the legal requirements of the FOIA, including the provisions of the OPEN Government Act.”  In addition to incorporating discussions of the OPEN Government Act changes into the 2009 edition of the U.S. Department of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act, OIP also held three government-wide conferences to directly address the various aspects of the amendments, and issued a series of guidance articles in 2008 to address the changes in detail.  These articles, available on our website, are: 

• Congress Passes Amendments to the FOIA,
• 2008 Guidelines for Agency Preparation of Annual FOIA Reports,
• Department of Justice Issues New Annual FOIA Report Guidance,
• Treatment of Agency Records Maintained For an Agency By a Government Contractor for Purposes of Records Management,
• Question and Answer: Annual FOIA Report (Expedited Processing and Fee Waiver Requests),
• Segregating and Marking Documents for Release in Accordance with the OPEN Government Act,
• Assigning Tracking Numbers and Providing Status Information on Requests,
• New Limitations on Tolling the FOIA’s Response Time,
• New Limitations on Assessing Fees, and
• New Requirement to Route Misdirected FOIA Requests.

In ending her remarks before the Committee, Director Pustay noted that the Department of Justice, and OIP:

“[Are] fully committed to achieving the new era of open government that the President envisions.  We have accomplished a great deal these past four years, but OIP will continue to work diligently to help achieve even greater transparency in the years ahead.”  

Be sure to continue reading FOIA Post for more information on OIP’s activities during Sunshine Week 2013, and the Department’s continued efforts in to improve both transparency and understanding of the FOIA.

You can read the full text of Director Pustay’s testimony here.

Members of the public and FOIA professionals from around the government gather together in the Great Hall of the Robert F. Kennedy Building in commemorate Sunshine Week 2013.

Yesterday the Department of Justice welcomed members of the public and FOIA professionals from around the government to the Great Hall of the Robert F. Kennedy Building in order to commemorate Sunshine Week 2013 and the fourth anniversary of the issuance of Attorney General Holder’s FOIA Guidelines.  The annual event celebrates the accomplishments of federal agencies in implementing the ideals of the President’s FOIA Memorandum and answering the call of the Attorney General to promote a culture of openness in the administration of the FOIA. 

Office of Information Policy Director Melanie Ann Pustay was the keynote speaker and highlighted many of the accomplishments achieved by federal agencies over the past year including:

• Processing more requests than were received,
• Improving average response times for requests,
• Reducing the overall government backlog of pending requests, and
• Releasing records in full or in part in over 93 percent of requests where records were processed for disclosure.

Noting that these achievements were “more than just improved statistics,” Director Pustay remarked that:

 “They represent hundreds of thousands of individuals, organizations, students, reporters, and public interest groups, all of whom have received more information, more quickly to help them in their research, or their work, or simply to increase their understanding of the workings of our government.  This is exactly what the Freedom of Information Act is designed to do and agencies are making concrete improvements in administering this important law.”

 The Director also noted efforts spearheaded by OIP to improve FOIA administration across the government, including posting the first chapter of the 2013 edition of the Department of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act and new quarterly reporting requirements for federal agencies, with quarterly data appearing on FOIA.gov. 

Joining Director Pustay onstage were representatives from the General Services Administration, Small Business Administration, the Department of Education, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Office of Personnel Management.  These representatives highlighted the efforts and success of their agencies in implementing the five key areas addressed by Attorney General Holder’s FOIA guidelines.  Agency Annual FOIA Reports and Chief FOIA Officer Reports contain additional information about the efforts and activities of these, and all federal agencies, and are available on the OIP website and FOIA.gov.

While acknowledging that “there is more work to be done and further improvements to be made,” Director Pustay emphasized that Sunshine Week is “an opportunity to reflect upon our accomplishments thus far and to share the lessons we have learned as we continue to focus on our shared mission of strengthening FOIA administration across the government.” 

Be sure to continue reading FOIA Post for more information on OIP’s activities during Sunshine Week 2013 and the Department’s continued efforts to improve both transparency and understanding of the FOIA.

 Read the full text of Director Pustay’s remarks here.