As summer winds down and pictures of kids on their first day of school fill up our social media feeds, we thought it might be a good time for a pop quiz on OGIS’s training program. Test your knowledge with the true/false statements below. Statement 1: OGIS recently launched its training program. Answer 1: False. … Continue reading The ABC’s of OGIS Training
FOIA Public Liaisons and the professionals who staff FOIA requester service centers play a key role in the FOIA process—they provide valuable assistance with a process that can confuse requesters. The recently passed FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 expands the role that these professionals play, requiring agencies to notify requesters about FOIA Public Liaisons and … Continue reading Upcoming Training Opportunity for FOIA Professionals
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
We play a valuable role in facilitating communications between a requester and an agency. A recent request made by National Public Radio (NPR) to the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) provides an example of this function. NPR reporter Caitlin Dickerson made a request to the NRL for records about a World War II-era medical experiment that … Continue reading Case Study in Clarity
While the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires agencies to notify requesters of the legal reasoning for upholding either all or part of an initial denial, the statute gives agencies very little—well, actually, no—additional guidance about what should be in an appeal response. As you might know, we at OGIS are big fans of the … Continue reading The Appeal of the Appeal Letter
We have learned through both our mediation services and agency assessment programs that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to administering a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program. Agencies process different kinds of requests for vastly different records, and each agency faces its own challenges. For this reason, a practice that works for a small independent … Continue reading Smart Solutions to FOIA Problems
As we’ve previously mentioned, two subcommittees of the FOIA Advisory Committee -- Oversight and Accountability, and Fees -- have developed surveys to learn more about the areas they are examining. These surveys were recently sent to FOIA Public Liaisons (FPLs) and Federal FOIA professionals across the government. The purpose of the FPL survey is to … Continue reading FOIA Advisory Committee Surveys: Examining the FOIA Landscape
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
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced that on Wednesday, March 25 from 2 to 3:00 pm (Eastern), DHS Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) staff will hold a Requester Roundtable teleconference. This is a fantastic opportunity for members of the requester community to learn more about the DHS process and share their ideas for … Continue reading Mark Your Calendars: DHS Requester Roundtable Scheduled for March 25
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