What challenges do you face as you navigate the FOIA process? Whether you are an agency FOIA professional or a FOIA requester, the Federal FOIA Advisory Committee wants to hear from you. The Committee is asking both those who administer and use the Federal FOIA to take a voluntary survey to help inform its understanding … Continue reading Share Your Thoughts with the FOIA Advisory Committee
Those who follow the news on FOIA are likely already aware of last week’s Chief FOIA Officers Council meeting hosted by NARA in McGowan Theater. The meeting included a panel discussion of ways that agencies, OGIS and FOIA requesters can better work together. What follows are a few observations from the presentations from my fellow … Continue reading Reflections on the July 27 Chief FOIA Officer Council Meeting
The Chief FOIA Officers Council will be meeting on July 27, 2017 at 10 am to discuss strategies for improving customer service and improving coordination between agency FOIA Public Liaisons and our office. Be sure to RSVP today to join the audience in the William G. McGowan Theater and ensure you have an opportunity to … Continue reading Register Today to Share Your Thoughts with the Chief FOIA Officer Council
OGIS and the Office of Information Policy (OIP) at the Department of Justice are happy to announce that the next meeting of the Chief FOIA Officers Council will be held on Thursday, July 27th from 10 am to noon. You can register to join the audience in the William G. McGowan Theater beginning on July … Continue reading Chief FOIA Officers Council Meeting Scheduled for July 27
As we have discussed before, OGIS is not the only entity that requesters can go to for help with the FOIA process. In fact, agencies were directed to create FOIA Requester Service Centers and appoint FOIA Public Liaisons in December 2005 – about two years before passage of the bill that created our office. Since … Continue reading Dispute Resolution: It’s a Team Sport
It will come as no surprise to our regular readers when we say that the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 has resulted in substantial changes to OGIS’s operations. As we have talked about in a few blog posts, OGIS now has an expanded role in providing dispute resolution throughout the FOIA process. The amendments have … Continue reading New OGIS Handout Available
The FOIA process can be confusing for requesters, especially those who are filing their first FOIA requests or who do not know much about how a particular agency functions. Unfortunately, figuring out who you should contact within an agency to clear up that confusion and assist with a request can be equally baffling. FOIA Requester … Continue reading Who Ya Gonna Call?
As we have discussed, the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 requires that agencies inform FOIA requesters that they can ask for assistance from OGIS and an agency’s FOIA Public Liaison (FPL) throughout the request process. But what kind of help can requesters expect to receive from FPLs and OGIS? While FOIA gives both OGIS and … Continue reading Help Me FOIA. Help, Help Me FOIA.
We are happy to announce that registration is now open for the October 18 session of our popular Dispute Resolution Skills for FOIA Professionals training. The free day-long session will be at the National Archives in downtown Washington, DC, location. During our training sessions, we help FOIA professionals develop a working knowledge of Alternative Dispute … Continue reading Reserve a Seat for Dispute Resolutions Skills Training Session
On January 19, 2016, the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee held its seventh quarterly meeting at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. We heard from the three subcommittees: Oversight and Accountability, FOIA Fees, and Proactive Disclosure. If you were not able to join us in person, you can still get in on … Continue reading An Update – and Request for Input – from the FOIA Advisory Committee
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