Gearing Up for the 2016-2018 Term of the Federal FOIA Advisory Committee

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee
Members of the first term of the FOIA Advisory Committee with David S. Ferriero (center), Archivist of the United States. in Washington, DC on April 19, 2016. NARA photo by Jeffrey Reed.

If you’re a frequent visitor to our website (and we hope you are), you might have noticed we’ve added a section for news and materials related to the 2016-2018 term of the FOIA Advisory Committee. The National Archives and Records Administration created the Committee in 2014 to bring together requesters and agency Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) professionals to work to improve the administration of FOIA. OGIS provides leadership and administrative support to the Committee.

The first term of the FOIA Advisory Committee ended on a high note: Committee members presented Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero with a recommendation to improve the FOIA process. This recommendation—that the Office of Management and Budget update its 1987 fee guidance to reduce confusion and and improve consistency in how the law is interpreted by agencies—won   unanimous support from the Committee on April 19, 2016.

On May 20, 2016, the Archivist renewed the Committee’s charter in recognition of Its unique role in bringing together agencies and requesters to consider ways to modernize the administration of FOIA. We are particularly excited about this term of the Committee because it presents an opportunity for the Committee members to look more broadly at the challenges that agency FOIA programs are expected to face with an ever increasing volume of electronic records.

In the coming weeks, we will update the FOIA Advisory Committee’s new web page to include information about the individuals the Archivist appointed to the Committee, and the Committee’s meeting schedule. If you have any comments for the Committee to consider, please email them to foia-advisory-committee@nara.gov.