The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been working to strengthen its FOIA program and improve the agency’s compliance with the law (Read the response here: fema-ogis-response-11-16-web. FEMA recently contacted OGIS in response to the recommendations in our compliance assessment of the FEMA FOIA program. According to FEMA, agency leadership is focusing on staffing, training … Continue reading FEMA Improves FOIA Compliance
Today we are publishing our FOIA compliance assessment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The report shows how ICE’s investments in its FOIA program enabled the agency to virtually eliminate its FOIA backlog in Fiscal Year (FY) 2015. In FY 2012, ICE’s backlog spiked to 2,443 … Continue reading OGIS Releases Immigration and Customs Enforcement FOIA Compliance Assessment
In March, we released our assessment of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program at Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Our report explained how support from CBP’s leadership and the effort of the FOIA staff improved the agency’s FOIA performance. As our report documents, CBP’s decisions to put in place management controls, to invest in … Continue reading CBP Takes Additional Steps to Improve its FOIA Program
Last month we received an update from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regarding changes it has made to its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program since we issued our assessment of the program earlier this year. We are happy to hear that TSA has taken a number of positive steps in response to our recommendations. … Continue reading Improvements to TSA FOIA Program
Today we are releasing a report on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program at the United States Secret Service (USSS), the fifth in our series of assessments of FOIA programs at components of the Department of Homeland Security. Like other OGIS reports on agency FOIA program assessments, the report includes findings and recommendations about … Continue reading OGIS Releases Assessment of Secret Service FOIA Program
Here’s a bit of good news for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requesters at the State Department: late last week we received a letter letting us know about the steps the agency has taken to bring its use of still interested letters to close FOIA requests in line with guidance from the Office of Information … Continue reading State Department Takes Steps to Improve Use of Still Interested Letters
Have you made a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)? Our Compliance Team wants to hear about your experience. Our compliance review process includes several methods to better understand how an agency FOIA program operates and what kind of challenges or opportunities … Continue reading OGIS Seeks Input on Immigration and Customs Enforcement FOIA Program
As we have discussed the last few weeks, still interested letters are a source of great frustration for many Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requesters and can give requesters the appearance that an agency’s FOIA process does not work. For those of you new to the issue, still interested letters refer to correspondence that an … Continue reading OGIS Recommendations Regarding Agency Use of Still Interested Letters
As we reported last week, data on the historical use of “still interested” letters cannot capture the full effect that the letters have on FOIA requesters but show that agencies close very few requests using these letters. For Part 2 of our review of still interested letters, we followed up with seven FOIA programs to … Continue reading Further Findings on the Use of “Still Interested” Letters
Since late last summer, the OGIS Compliance Team has been taking a close look at a controversial practice that some agencies use to close Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The term “still interested letter” is shorthand for correspondence an agency sends to requesters requiring them to affirm that they remain interested in the requested … Continue reading A Deep Dive into the Use of “Still Interested” Letters
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