The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA): Background, Legislation, and Policy Issues Updated August 14, 2015 Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov R41933 The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA): Background, Legislation, and Policy Issues Summary The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA; 5 U.S.C. §552) allows any person—individual or corporate, citizen or not—to request and obtain existing, identifiable, and unpublished agency records on any topic. Pursuant to FOIA, the public has presumptive access to agency records unless the material falls within any of FOIA’s nine categories of exception. Disputes over the release of records requested pursuant to FOIA can be appealed administratively, resolved through mediation, or heard in court. FOIA was enacted in 1966, after 11 years of legislative development in the House, and nearly 6 years of consideration in the Senate. The perception that agencies were not properly implementing FOIA has resulted in amendments in 1974, 1976, 1986, 1996, 2007, and 2010. FOIA is a tool of inquiry and information gathering for various sectors—including the media, businesses, scholars, attorneys, consumers, and activists. Agency responses to FOIA requests may involve a few sheets of paper, several stacks of records, or information in an electronic format. Assembling responses requires staff time to search for records and make duplicates, among other resource commitments. Agency information management professionals are responsible for efficiently and economically responding to, or denying, FOIA requests. In FY2014, the federal government received the highest volume of requests since at least FY1998: 714,231 FOIA requests. Requests increased by 9,837 compared to FY2013 (a 1.4% increase) and have increased by more than 156,000 since FY2009 (28.0%). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) received more FOIA requests than any other agency with 291,242 requests in FY2014 (40.8% of all FOIA requests). The increase was largely prompted by an increase in requests to DHS (particularly within the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service [USCIS], the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol [USCBP], and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE]). A large increase in the number of FOIA requests received by DHS in FY2014 (59,708 more requests than the previous year) drove a government-wide increase in FOIA requests—even though nearly all other agencies experienced a decline in the number of FOIA requests received. It is not clear what prompted the increase in requests in DHS. In contrast, the Department of Defense (DOD) saw a 5,023 (7.6%) reduction in the number of FOIA requests it received from FY2012 to FY2014. DHS is also the primary driver of an increasing government-wide backlog in FOIA requests. According to DHS officials, this backlog—led by USCIS, USCBP, and ICE—is prompted by a lack of resources, a loss of employees with expertise and experience, and a move to migrate to newer automated systems, which takes time and training. H.R. 1615 in the 114th Congress seeks to address DHS’s FOIA administration difficulties by, among other things, requiring DHS to update its FOIA regulations, to examine its current costs and seek ways to eliminate inefficiencies, and to draft plans that detail the implementation of tracking systems and other automation for FOIA administration purposes. This report examines and analyzes agency administration of FOIA. Using data that executive branch agencies report publicly and to the Department of Justice, this report provides information on the volume of FOIA requests, processed, and backlogged by executive branch agencies, as well as information on how many exemptions the agencies use to withhold certain information from public release. This information can assist Congress in determining whether agencies are meeting their statutory responsibilities to provide federal information to the public in compliance with FOIA. Congressional Research Service The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA): Background, Legislation, and Policy Issues Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 FOIA Background ........................................................................................................................... 2 A Focus on the Executive Branch ............................................................................................. 2 FOIA Exemptions...................................................................................................................... 4 Obama Administration Initiatives ............................................................................................. 5 Department of Justice Guidance ......................................................................................... 5 Soliciting Public Input ........................................................................................................ 6 The Open Government Directive ........................................................................................ 6 FOIA Statistics ................................................................................................................................ 8 FOIA Request Volume .............................................................................................................. 8 FOIA Processing ....................................................................................................................... 9 Backlogged Requests .............................................................................................................. 10 Costs to Administer FOIA ............................................................................................................. 12 Use and Growth of Exemptions .................................................................................................... 13 Use of Exemption 2 after Milner v. Department of the Navy ................................................. 15 Some Policy Options for the 114th Congress ................................................................................ 16 Reducing the Backlog of FOIA Requests ............................................................................... 16 Monitoring the Expansion of Additional Statutory b(3) Exemptions ..................................... 16 Amending the Exemption for Personnel Rules and Practices ................................................. 18 Figures Figure 1. FOIA Requests Received by the Federal Government..................................................... 9 Figure 2. FOIA Requests Received and Processed, and the Remaining FOIA Backlog ............... 10 Figure 3. FOIA Backlog in the Federal Government .................................................................... 12 Figure 4. Costs of FOIA-Related Activities for Federal Departments and Agencies .................... 13 Figure 5. Use of Exemption 3, FY2009-FY2013 .......................................................................... 14 Figure 6. Use of Exemption 2, FY2009-FY2013 .......................................................................... 15 Contacts Author Information ........................................................................................................................ 18 Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................... 18 Congressional Research Service The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA): Background, Legislation, and Policy Issues Introduction1 The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA; 5 U.S.C. §552), often referred to as the embodiment of “the people’s right to know” about the activities and operations of government, statutorily established a presumption of public access to information held by executive branch departments and agencies. Enacted in 1966 to replace the “Public Information” section of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA; 5 U.S.C. Subchapter II),2 FOIA allows any person—individual or corporate, citizen or not—to request and obtain, without explanation or justification, existing, identifiable, and unpublished agency records on any topic.3 Presidential Administrations have interpreted FOIA’s presumed public access to agency records differently. For example, the Department of Justice (DOJ) under the direction of the George W. Bush Administration cautioned federal agencies to give “full and deliberate consideration of the institutional, commercial, and personal privacy interests when making disclosure determinations” and assured them that DOJ would defend agency decisions in court “unless they lack[ed] a sound legal basis or present[ed] an unwarranted risk of adverse impact on the ability of other agencies to protect other important records.”4 In contrast, the Barack H. Obama Administration requires agencies “to adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure.”5 The 114th Congress may have an interest in the implementation of FOIA and whether that implementation appropriately reflects the law. In addition to agency oversight, Congress may have particular interest in exploring some of the following FOIA-related issues: whether to limit, maintain, or expand the number of provisions that permit agencies to withhold certain categories of information from public release; how to assist agencies in reducing FOIA request backlogs; and how to better understand how policy or statutory changes can affect the volume of FOIA requests an agency may receive each year. This report discusses