Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
Fixes Early in FOIA Process Offer Greatest Potential for Impact
May 7, 2013
The Obama administration has released new data on the 333 lawsuits filed in 2012 under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The data shows that although FOIA lawsuits can be high profile, they are rare and the vast majority of requesters never pursue litigation. But more importantly, the information indicates that FOIA reforms, currently being considered by both Congress and the administration, can generate greater improvements for public access when they address earlier stages of the FOIA process.
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Strides and Stumbles: Mixed Results for the Obama Administration on Freedom of Information
Mar 14, 2012
The Obama administration has continued to make progress on implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In fiscal year (FY) 2011, the administration processed more FOIA requests than in either of the past two years. In fact, agencies processed considerably more requests in FY 2011 than they received altogether the previous year. Nevertheless, the surge in FOIA requests outpaced the administration's increase in processing. This resulted in a growth of the administration's combined FOIA backlog.
read in fullGovernment Status: Open
Sep 19, 2011 by Sean Moulton
Late last week, the administration released a status report on their open government efforts over the past two and half years. Impressive progress has been made because of the hard work of public employees across the federal government.
read in fullJustice Department to Revise its FOIA Regulations
Apr 21, 2011 by Gavin Baker
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has proposed to update its regulations implementing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The regulations would apply to DOJ and its components, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
read in fullContracting Industry Verklempt Over Possibility of Contracts Going Public
Jun 2, 2010 by Gary Therkildsen*
The Federal Times had an interesting piece last week on the contracting industry's reaction to a recent notice in the Federal Register seeking input on "how best to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to enable public posting of contract actions." Despite the FAR Councils' stated efforts to post contracts "without compromising contractors' proprietary and confidential commercial or financial information," industry executives are beside themselves over such a monumental change. Not surprisingly, their arguments against the idea don't hold much water.
read in fullCourt Rules Fed Must Release Bailout Recipient Names
Mar 23, 2010 by Sam Rosen-Amy
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan handed down a ruling ordering the Federal Reserve to give up the names of the financial firms that used the Fed's emergency lending window during the financial meltdown in 2008. Bloomberg News requested the names in November 2008 through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, which the Fed denied. The Fed argued that releasing this data would discourage companies from using the program, as it would essentially identify which banks were in danger of failing. With its ruling, the Appeals court rejected this argument, and upheld a lower court ruling also ordering the Fed to disclose recipient names.
D.C. Court Rejects OMB Assertion of FOIA Exemptions
Mar 12, 2010 by Roger Strother*
Today, the DC Circuit court reissued an opinion in Public Citizen v. OMB that rejected the agency’s use of exemptions 2 and 5 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). OMB had attempted to withhold information from Public Citizen that detailed which agencies submit materials to Congress without clearance by OMB. This court case adds an important legal support to the FOIA practice of discretionary disclosure.
Intelligence Community Tries & Fails to add Silly Exemption to FOIA
Sep 21, 2009 by Roger Strother*
Earlier this month, the Washington Post ran a story about the intelligence community’s efforts to push legislators to amend the Intelligence Authorization Act (S. 1494) to exempt “terrorist identity information (TII)” from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Currently, this information is marked as Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) with a stamp that reads “for official use only” but the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) made claims that the information could readily be requested under FOIA with little protection. We have proof that these claims were ridiculous.
OMB Watch Appeals Recovery Act FOIA Decision
Sep 18, 2009 by Sam Rosen-Amy
Back when the Recovery Board released the Recovery.gov redesign contract, many in the transparency community were upset at the extent to which the General Services Administration redacted the contract. While we certainly expected General Services Administration (GSA) - the agency which conducts most of the federal government's procurement - to redact proprietary information, the document had massive swaths blacked out, including such ridiculous sections as the number of peak users and one part titled "Introduction."
