In order to assess the backlog of Freedom of Information
Act requests submitted to the Federal Government, the Archive
submitted FOIA requests to 87 federal agencies and federal agency
components on January 30, 2007. The request was submitted at the
end of January in order to coincide with the data reported to
Congress in the agencies' annual FOIA reports, which were due
February 1, 2007. The agencies selected for the 2007 audit included
those that were a part of the Archive's 2006 Ten Oldest Audit.
Additional agencies were selected based on the ratio of the requests
they processed to the requests received in FY 2005 (processing
rate). Those agencies that had a processing rate of 50% or less--indicating
more than half of the incoming FOIA requests were being added
to their backlog-were included in the 2007 audit. (Note
27)
The Freedom of Information Act request asked for: "Copies
of the [Agency's] ten oldest open or pending Freedom of Information
Act requests."
The request went to the central FOIA processing office of each
agency or agency component. The statutory 20-business day time
limit for a FOIA response expired on February 28, 2007. Each of
the agencies with an outstanding Ten Oldest FOIA request was contacted
by telephone on March 28-29, 2007, to inquire as to the status
of the request.
In calculating the number of business days a request was pending,
the Archive used the date of the request letter. (Note
28) In cases where the request was a referral from another
agency or component, the Archive used the date the referral was
received by the agency or component to which it was referred or,
if the referral date was not available, the date of the original
request letter. (Note 29)
It is possible that some of the requests provided to the Archive
in response to its 2007 FOIA request have since been processed.
The data provided in this audit is recorded as of February 1,
2007, since it is more than likely that all requests were still
pending two days after the Archive's January 30, 2007, FOIA request.
In cases where an agency provided the Archive with requests that
were dated after February 1, 2007, these requests were not included
in this report.
One additional caveat regarding decentralization and referrals
is that some of the FOIA requests that the agencies identified
as still-pending may have been completed to the satisfaction of
the requester by a different component than the one that responded
with a copy of the FOIA request. The Archive did not contact all
of the individual requesters to determine whether they believe
that their request remains pending, but rather relied on the data
provided by the agencies.
Even though the Archive asked agencies for information they should
be tracking and that should be readily available and in spite
of repeated Archive inquiries, after more than 100 business days,
the Archive never received a complete, substantive response from
the following agencies:
- Agency for International Development
- Army Chief of Engineers (DOD)
- Army Criminal Investigation Command (DOD)
- Citizenship and Immigration Services (DHS)
- Coast Guard (DHS)
- Customs & Border Protection (DHS)
- Department of Education
- Department of Energy
- Department of Transportation
- Drug Enforcement Agency (DOJ)
- Employment and Training Administration (DOL)
- Employment Standards Administration (DOL)
- Federal Railroad Administration (DOT)
- Immigration & Customs Enforcement (DHS)
- Legal Services Corporation
- Marine Corps (DOD)
- National Geospatial Intelligence Agency
- National Institutes of Health
- National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE)
- National Transportation Safety Board
- Naval Air Systems Command
- Naval Facilities Engineering Command (DOD)
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (DOL)
- Office of Personnel Management
- Office of Science and Technology Policy (EOP)
- United States Secret Service (DHS)
Notes
27. Agencies that had fewer than ten requests
pending at the end of FY 2005 were not included. The Office of
the Director of National Intelligence did not list a backlog in
its FY 2005 annual report to Congress. However, since it is a
relatively new agency (it began operations on April 22, 2005),
we determined it likely to have a backlog in FY 2006. Therefore,
it was included in our audit.
28. Agencies vary in when they begin to calculate
the number of business days a request as been pending. Some base
it on the date the request was received, others on when it was
finally forwarded to the correct office or component or when any
issues regarding fees or fee status are resolved. Moreover, in
some cases, agencies do not start the clock on a request until
it has been "perfected" and any fee or other procedural
disputes are resolved. The proposed FOIA reform legislation in
both the House and the Senate included provisions that would require
all agencies to begin the calculation the date the request is
received by the agency.
29. Some agencies provided the Archive with
copies of pages from their FOIA tracking databases rather than
copies of the original request letters. In some cases only the
date the request was received was provided, or it was not clear
whether the date on the spreadsheet was the date of the original
request or the date received.
