In this season of gratitude, we at OGIS would like to pause and give thanks for:
FOIA professionals: Our work resolving FOIA disputes and evaluating compliance brings us into contact with many FOIA professionals from many agencies. We are thankful for how hard they work every single day to carefully balance the interests of disclosure with the interests of the Federal government to maximize disclosure and access to information to the extent possible.
The FOIA process: From estimated dates of completion to rolling releases to earnest efforts to narrow the scope of requests, we are grateful for examples of the FOIA process working as it should. This includes the administrative review process, which allows agencies to take a fresh look at initial processing decisions and often provides additional explanations of the agency’s actions.
FOIA geeks: Yes, it’s true, there are those who obsess over the FOIA and not just those of us at OGIS. We are grateful for our collaborative relationship with our colleagues at the Office of Information Policy at DOJ. We are grateful for members of civil society groups and academics who devote countless research and advocacy hours to our favorite Federal statute. We are grateful for organizations like the American Society of Access Professionals who make space for the free flow of new ideas. We are grateful for the special people from both inside and outside of government who have and are donating their time on the FOIA Advisory Committee, collaborating on ways to improve the FOIA process.
OGIS supporters: To the Archivist of the United States to our Federal agency and Congressional colleagues, and to the entire requester community, we are grateful for your support.
Above all, we are very grateful to all of the people who think and care about FOIA, advise OGIS and spur us on to tackle hard topics, all with the goal of making FOIA work better—and that includes you, our blog readers. Wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving!
You must be logged in to post a comment.