Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 has been an exciting one for OGIS! We launched our agency compliance program, hosted four meetings of the Federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee, and welcomed Dr. James Holzer as our Director, not to mention assisted agencies and FOIA requesters in resolving disputes in more than 1,200 instances. As … Continue reading OGIS Release New Year’s Calendar
Our assessment of the FOIA program at the United States Coast Guard is now available. The Coast Guard’s FOIA process is decentralized, meaning that requests received in the nine districts and more than 1,200 units are processed by those districts and units, generally as a collateral duty. Final memorandums on maritime disasters and records pertaining … Continue reading Compliance Review of Coast Guard FOIA Program Now Available
We’re happy to announce the release of our assessment of the FOIA program at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is now public. As our regular blog readers may know, the assessment of FEMA is one of six compliance reports that we are working on and will publish in the coming months. OGIS’s report includes … Continue reading OGIS Releases Compliance Review of FEMA FOIA Program
Do you find yourself locked in disputes with FOIA requesters (or agency colleagues)? Would you like to learn constructive ways to resolve or avoid disputes in the future? OGIS will present a training session designed to help FOIA professionals develop dispute resolution skills on Tuesday, October 6, 2015 at the Archives building on Constitution Ave … Continue reading Dispute Resolution Skills for FOIA Professionals Training Session: October 6, 2015
We have some exciting news to share: on Monday, September 14 we will officially launch our Twitter feed. If you can’t wait till Monday, please feel free to go ahead and follow @FOIA_Ombuds. To celebrate, we will host a lunchtime FOIA trivia challenge every day between Monday September 14 and Wednesday September 30. At noon … Continue reading OGIS is Atwitter—and on Twitter
One of the most common questions that we receive about OGIS’s work is: “What kinds of FOIA disputes do you see?” If you are interested in learning more about our cases, check out the case closure letters posted on our website. We first announced that we would post our case closure letters during Sunshine Week 2014. … Continue reading OGIS Case Closure Letters Available on our Website
The use of “still interested” letters is a hot topic in the FOIA community, both with requesters and agencies. In October 2014, about a dozen organizations representing the interests of the requester community wrote to the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) to request that we look into the use of these letters to administratively … Continue reading Play Under Review: Agency Use of “Still Interested” Letters
How about we start off by asking you to tell us a little about yourself? Most importantly, I’m a family man. I have three kids and a wonderful wife. I’m originally from California and lived a number of places during my thirteen years as a part of the Air Force, including Florida, England, the Azores … Continue reading Meet OGIS’s New Director, James Holzer
Archivist of the United States David Ferriero announced the appointment of James Holzer as the Director of the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) on July 21, 2015, effective August 9. We hope all of you will join us in welcoming Dr. Holzer to the OGIS staff! Dr. Holzer comes to OGIS from the Department … Continue reading Archivist Appoints New OGIS Director
The White House will host a public meeting Thursday July 30 at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to gather ideas on steps the government should take to make itself more open and accountable. RSVP now to reserve your seat for the 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. session! In October the Administration will release the third … Continue reading The Best Laid Plans: Public National Action Plan Session Set for July 30
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