The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552, establishes how an agency must administer its FOIA program. While the law contains a lot of useful information—from time limits to fee categories to redactions and more—it doesn’t provide the whole picture. If a FOIA requester needs practical, detailed information about how an agency’s … Continue reading FOIA Regulations: A Valuable Tool for Requesters
An OGIS-sponsored forum on immigration records on May 23 brought FOIA professionals from agencies which maintain immigration records together with immigration attorneys and others interested in such records. The FOIA Ombudsman is spot-lighting each agency and the types of immigration records each holds. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) … Continue reading ICE: A Source for Investigative Immigration Records
For the past two years, the National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA’s) Open Government Plan has provided our parent agency with a roadmap to increased transparency, participation and collaboration. Since that time, NARA’s leadership and staff have completed almost 70 tasks spelled out in that document. Never an agency to rest on its laurels, NARA … Continue reading Archives Releases Updated Open Gov Plan
Note: An OGIS-sponsored forum on immigration records on May 23 brought together FOIA professionals from agencies which maintain immigration records with immigration attorneys and others interested in such records. The FOIA Ombudsman: Information & Advice is spot-lighting each agency, the types of immigration records each holds and tips for obtaining those records under FOIA. U.S. … Continue reading Ensuring Requests for A-Files are A-OK
At least five different Federal agencies maintain immigration records, so figuring out which agency holds what records can be challenging—even for frequent FOIA requesters like immigration attorneys. On the flip side, agencies are challenged by a constant stream of immigration records requests. An OGIS-sponsored forum on immigration records May 23 brought immigration attorneys and others … Continue reading Demystifying Immigration Records, Part 1
We receive a number of requests for assistance from FOIA requesters seeking an estimated completion date for their delayed FOIA requests. When we contact agencies for the estimated completion date, we sometimes get some pretty strong pushback. That’s understandable, since nobody wants to go on record making a promise when lots of variables beyond his/her … Continue reading Estimating Completion Dates for FOIA Requests: Tips for Agencies
Immigration records offer a wealth of valuable information for immigrants, genealogists, journalists, academic researchers and others. However, several agencies maintain immigration records, so finding them can challenge even the savviest FOIA requester. Join agency representatives and requesters for an OGIS Forum on immigration records on Wednesday, May 23, from 10:00 a.m. to noon. This event, … Continue reading Upcoming OGIS Forum: Immigration Records
The following guest post is from Ryan Alfred, co-founder and president of BrightScope, a financial data and analytics company, launched in January 2009. Mr. Alfred spoke at the March 30, 2012 Smart Disclosure summit, hosted by the National Archives and the White House, about his experiences using FOIA. By including his post on the FOIA … Continue reading FOIA Helps Shine a Light on Retirement Plans
The following post is from OGIS Director Miriam Nisbet: The Freedom of Information Act directs OGIS to recommend “policy changes to Congress and the President to improve the administration” of FOIA. Since late 2009 when OGIS opened as part of the National Archives and Records Administration, the Office has looked for and shared ways to … Continue reading Improving FOIA
Have you ever wondered why it takes so long for an agency to find responsive records after you make a FOIA request? After all, isn’t there a “Government Google” that allows an agency to search its records with a few keystrokes? Or, have you received a FOIA fee estimate in the thousands of dollars because … Continue reading Searching for Answers about Record Searches?
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