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
We’ve written before about the profound impact the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 has had on our workload, and that impact has only continued to grow. Demand for our services has roughly quadrupled since the passage of the bill, while at the same time there are two open positions on the mediation team that we … Continue reading An Update on Our Dispute Resolution Program
As you might have heard, the Federal government received a record-breaking number of FOIA requests in Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 – 788,769 requests. Did you know, though, that one of the more than 100 Federal agencies and departments that process FOIA requests accounts for almost 40 percent of that total? In FY 2016, the Department … Continue reading DHS Provides New Insight into FOIA Processing
We hope you like the new look and feel of our updated website (do not worry if you do not see the updated version yet, it might take some time for the changes to roll out)! Over the past few weeks we have used this blog to give you a preview of the new site … Continue reading Help Us Keep Improving Our Website!
Because we help resolve disputes between agencies and FOIA requesters, we see a broad sample of the kinds of requests that members of the public file with agencies. Seeing this range of requests also gives us a pretty good idea of what strategies seem to work well, and what seem to cause unintended problems. One … Continue reading Keep It Simple and Specific
As we let you know last week, we will soon be rolling out an update to the OGIS website. We are very excited about the fresh look and feel of the site and are back today to tell you a little bit more about what you can expect after the update goes into effect. Hopefully … Continue reading Finding Content on Our Updated Website: A Guide
Within the next few weeks, OGIS will have a new physical and virtual home. Contacting our New Office Beginning on May 5th, our offices will be located within the Government Publishing Office at 732 North Capitol St. NW, Washington, DC 20401. While we are doing everything possible to ensure that the move is as seamless … Continue reading Update Your Address Book: OGIS is Moving!
Almost a year ago we published our report on recommendations to improve the transparency of the use of “still interested” letters to administratively close FOIA requests and reduce requester frustration with the practice. Our recommendations were based on findings of an in-depth review of historical annual FOIA report data and interviews with selected FOIA programs … Continue reading OGIS is Still Interested in Still Interested Letters
We hope you are planning to join us for our first annual Open Meeting on Thursday, April 20th in the William G. McGowan Theater! If you cannot attend in person, you can still watch all of the action via the livestream on YouTube. As we noted in our blog post announcing the meeting a few … Continue reading Don’t Miss Our First Annual Open Meeting on April 20th
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
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