Do you or your colleagues need help sharpening your communications skills? Would you like to hear tips for avoiding or narrowing disputes with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requesters? OGIS is here to help! As you might know, about twice each fiscal year we plan day-long dispute resolution skills training sessions for agency FOIA professionals. … Continue reading Planting the Seeds of Dispute Resolution
During my relatively short tenure as the Director of OGIS, I have endeavored to strengthen and mature OGIS’s mediation and compliance programs. Miriam Nisbet and all of the OGIS staff are to be commended for doing the very hard work of setting up and running a new government program. When I first walked through the … Continue reading Farewell from Director Holzer
As we have discussed the last few weeks, still interested letters are a source of great frustration for many Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requesters and can give requesters the appearance that an agency’s FOIA process does not work. For those of you new to the issue, still interested letters refer to correspondence that an … Continue reading OGIS Recommendations Regarding Agency Use of Still Interested Letters
As we reported last week, data on the historical use of “still interested” letters cannot capture the full effect that the letters have on FOIA requesters but show that agencies close very few requests using these letters. For Part 2 of our review of still interested letters, we followed up with seven FOIA programs to … Continue reading Further Findings on the Use of “Still Interested” Letters
Since late last summer, the OGIS Compliance Team has been taking a close look at a controversial practice that some agencies use to close Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The term “still interested letter” is shorthand for correspondence an agency sends to requesters requiring them to affirm that they remain interested in the requested … Continue reading A Deep Dive into the Use of “Still Interested” Letters
It looks like FOIA requesters won’t be able to use their favorite access law to find out what really happened to Jon Snow. Last week the #FOIA Twittersphere was buzzing with news that an enterprising reporter had filed an unexpected Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request; she requested the advanced copies (or “screeners”) of the … Continue reading Game of Thrones FOIA Requesters Face “Stark” Reality
If you are in the DC area (or will be next week), be sure to reserve your seat for the April 19th meeting for the FOIA Advisory Committee! The meeting will be held at the National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW in the Archivist’s Reception Room (Room 105) from 10 a.m.– 1 … Continue reading RSVP for the April 19th FOIA Advisory Committee Meeting
Interested in an assessment of your agency’s FOIA program conducted by a team of FOIA subject-matter experts? Wonder how your agency can be added to the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) assessment calendar? Let us help with some sample language for the Agency officials or Chief FOIA Officer at your agency to use in … Continue reading Let Us Help You: Seeking an OGIS Assessment
Do you love the public’s right to know? Do you want to work with people inside and outside of government to improve the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)? If you answered yes to both these questions, you might be just the person we are looking for to join the Federal FOIA Advisory Committee! Last week … Continue reading Help Improve the FOIA Process: An Update on the FOIA Advisory Committee
Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 was very busy for the FOIA Ombudsman’s office. You can get a more complete picture of our work during FY 2015 by checking out the latest version of our Annual Report. One major change to OGIS in FY 2015 was the appointment of a new Director, Dr. James Holzer. During the … Continue reading Fiscal Year 2015 at the FOIA Ombudsman
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