There are few things in the federal government that do not go by a three letter acronym—or, in government-speak, a TLA. As we at OGIS (that’s the Office of Government Information Services!) are keenly aware, though, government acronyms are not limited to three letters—and they can refer to a wide variety of things. One acronym that … Continue reading What the Government’s Alphabet Soup Means for You
OGIS’s Acting Director, Nikki Gramian, took a turn in the big chair before the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 6 to update the panel on OGIS’s activities over the last year. The hearing also included testimony from Director of the Department of Justice Office of Information Policy Melanie Pustay; State Department Chief FOIA Officer Joyce … Continue reading OGIS Acting Director Testifies before Senate Judiciary Committee
In 2007 Congress added a provision into the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that requires agencies to provide a requester with an estimated date by which the agency expects to complete work on a request, when the requester asks for one. This requirement helps the requester better understand the agency’s FOIA process and gives the … Continue reading Let’s Talk About Estimated Dates of Completion
Agency Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulations are one of the most important resources available to those requesting information from the federal government. As we’ve mentioned in the past, agency FOIA regulations are essentially the rule book the agency uses to process a request. And, as anyone who has ever played a new board or … Continue reading Let’s Make It Easier for Requesters to Use the FOIA Process
It’s time for another meeting of the federal FOIA Advisory Committee! Be sure to reserve your seat now for our Tuesday April 21 meeting from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Archivist’s Reception Room at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC. Similar to our last few meetings, the Committee’s subcommittees will … Continue reading Advisory Committee Meeting Set for April 21: Reserve Your Seat Now!
We’re pleased to release our second assessment of an agency FOIA program: the National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) Special Access and FOIA unit. Regular readers will recall that we launched our agency assessment program last year to help us better fulfill our statutory mandate to review agency FOIA policies, procedures and compliance. (5 U.S.C. … Continue reading OGIS Releases Second Agency Assessment
A position for a government representative recently opened on the Federal FOIA Advisory Committee! The Committee is a diverse group of FOIA experts from inside and outside the government with the shared goal of tackling some of FOIA’s trickiest issues. In keeping with the terms of the Committee’s charter, we are currently accepting applications for … Continue reading FOIA Advisory Committee Seeks Passionate Government Employee for Long-Term Relationship
Another Sunshine Week is in the history books. As always, the celebrations served as a powerful reminder about the importance of open government laws like the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and what we can all do to open the government more to the public. Just because Sunshine Week is over, though, doesn’t mean that … Continue reading Let’s Keep the Sun Shining All Year Long
Since OGIS opened in 2009, we’ve worked to improve the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process by providing mediation services and training to help agency FOIA professionals develop skills to communicate productively with requesters. We frequently see our efforts paying off as the FOIA culture shifts from being contentious and litigious to communicative and collaborative; … Continue reading You Can Help Keep a FOIA Request Out of Court
Click on the graphic to read our Twitter chats with FOIA Advisory Committee members.
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