Do you find yourself locked in disputes with FOIA requesters (or agency colleagues)? Would you like to learn constructive ways to resolve or avoid disputes in the future? OGIS will present a training session designed to help FOIA professionals develop dispute resolution skills on Wednesday, April 13, 2016, at the Archives building on Constitution Ave … Continue reading Dispute Resolution Skills for FOIA Professionals Training Session: April 13, 2016
We hope you are all having a great Sunshine Week! We are only halfway through the week, but already we have so much news to share. Our Sunshine Week celebration started the week prior with a message from Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero to all of the National Archives staff reminding them … Continue reading OGIS Celebrates Sunshine Week 2016
Sunshine Week is an annual celebration of open government that is embraced by journalists, non-profit organizations, citizens, and officials at every level of government. SunshineWeek.org has a full listing of the events going on around the country to celebrate the week of March 13-19, 2016, but Washington, DC, is the epicenter for Federal agencies’ celebrations. … Continue reading Federal Agencies Soak Up Sunshine Week
In advance of next week’s Sunshine Week celebration, we are pleased to announce the release of our assessment of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) compliance at Customs and Border Protection (CBP). As our report shows, CBP made a number of changes to its FOIA program during the last three years that have improved the agency’s … Continue reading Celebrate Sunshine Week Early with OGIS Assessment of CBP and Our Annual Report
Thank you to FOIA professionals who have already participated in our recently launched Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) compliance self-assessment pilot program. Employees of more than half of the 61 agencies we contacted to announce the program have already taken the self-assessment survey. The survey closes on March 11, 2016, meaning agencies still have a … Continue reading Agencies Participating in New FOIA Compliance Self-Assessment Pilot Program
As the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Ombudsman, one of OGIS’s important functions is to help FOIA requesters better understand how the FOIA process works. We do this by working directly with those who contact our office and by making a variety of resources available on our website While many of the requests for assistance … Continue reading Have a FOIA Question? We are Here to Help
In September 2015, OGIS issued a compliance assessment of the United States Coast Guard’s FOIA program. As part of our assessment, we recommended several improvements to the program’s management, use of technology and communications with its requesters. One hundred and twenty days after we issue an assessment report, we follow up with the agency to … Continue reading Improvements to Coast Guard’s FOIA Program
Hopefully your calendars are marked for Sunshine Week 2016 at the National Archives, which is taking place in NARA’s William G. McGowan Theater from 1 – 4:30 pm on March 14. You can register to attend here. Sunshine Week is a national initiative launched by the American Society of News Editors to focus attention on … Continue reading Register Now for Sunshine Week 2016 at the National Archives
On January 19, 2016, the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee held its seventh quarterly meeting at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. We heard from the three subcommittees: Oversight and Accountability, FOIA Fees, and Proactive Disclosure. If you were not able to join us in person, you can still get in on … Continue reading An Update – and Request for Input – from the FOIA Advisory Committee
Is your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program in need of a check-up? Starting January 27, Federal agencies can participate in OGIS’s new FOIA self-assessment program. OGIS is required to review agency compliance with FOIA under the statute. To help meet that mandate, we developed a robust agency assessment program in which our Compliance Team … Continue reading OGIS Releases FOIA Compliance Self-Assessment Program
You must be logged in to post a comment.