All government agencies create and obtain records as they carry out their day-to-day duties. The types of records vary by agency. In the Intelligence Community (IC), many of these records are classified due to the sensitive nature of the agencies’ work and the obligation to protect the sources and methods used to collect and process information. This creates a challenge for FOIA requesters who wish to learn more about the work of these agencies.
NARA’s Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), National Declassification Center (NDC) and Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) will be hosting the Multi-Agency Forum: Using FOIA to Access Intelligence Community Records on Thursday, March 12, 2020 from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm at the National Archives’ William G. McGowan Theater in Washington DC. Following opening remarks from Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero, experts from various IC agencies including the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the U.S. Department of State, and NDC and ISOO will discuss their respective FOIA programs. Those who wish to attend in person may RSVP online, or you may “attend” via livestream.
The forum will include a question and answer period, so if you have a general question for the IC FOIA community, we ask that you submit it no later than Wednesday, March 11 to ogisopenmeeting@nara.gov. We will also publish a FOIA Ombuds Observer after the forum that summarizes the discussion.