5.3: Freedom of Information Act at the National Archives

Improve compliance with the statute and the spirit of openness

Other Information:

(http://www.archives.gov/foia) - The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) understands that the effective implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a critical component of open government. NARA’s staff, at all levels of the agency, is committed to improved compliance with the statute and the spirit of openness established by existing policy. Our primary goals are to expand on our ability to act on FOIA request in a timely manner; actively work to decrease our backlog of pending requests, find workable solutions to facilitate the prompt review of classified records by agencies that have interests in the records, work with the Office of Government Information Services to mediate or resolve issues that prevent NARA’s ability to fully process a pending request, and proactively disclose information that is of interest to FOIA requesters and the research community at large. Detailing FOIA at NARA - NARA has been responding to public access requests for government information since long before the FOIA was enacted. NARA accepts FOIA requests for the operational records that NARA creates while conducting government business as well as the accessioned archival records that NARA receives and maintains from all Executive branch agencies as part of the National Archives of the United States. NARA also accepts FOIA requests for Presidential and Vice Presidential records subject to the Presidential Records Act. Most, but not all, of our holdings are Executive branch agency Federal records and Presidential records that are now subject to the FOIA. Using the principles and processes embodied in FOIA, NARA makes available to the public these archival holdings. In the vast majority of situations, FOIA requests are not necessary to access these records. Additionally, NARA discloses on our website descriptive information concerning our holdings, publicly available electronic records, and digital images of open materials. Archival Records - FOIA requests for access to archival records are received within three divisions of NARA: the Office of Records Services for Washington, DC; the Office of Regional Records Services; and the Office of Presidential Libraries. Initial requests for access to records are tracked and processed by the components of NARA having custody of the records. This process allows requests to be handled by the individuals who are most familiar with the records and who are best suited to talk with FOIA requesters about those records. Operational Records - FOIA requests for NARA’s operational records include those requests processed by the Office of General Counsel, the Office of the Federal Register, and the Office of the Inspector General. NARA performs extremely well with regard to processing FOIA requests for its operational records within 20 working days. During FY 2009, NARA received 216 FOIA requests for access to operational records. NARA completed processing 235 requests in that same time period. NARA completed 195 request within 20 workdays; a completion rate of 90 percent. Since 1999 NARA has answered, on average, 90 percent of all FOIA requests received for operational records within 20 work days. When compared to other executive branch agencies, with similar FOIA workloads, NARA does an exceptional job in processing requests within the statutory time limits. Effective System for Responding to Requests - FOIA requests at all NARA facilities are received via postal mail, e-mail or fax. Misdirected FOIA requests are routed to the appropriate office for tracking and processing within 10 working days as mandated by the OPEN Government Act. As described below, tracking methodology varies by available technology in the NARA office responsible for processing the incoming FOIA request. The Office of Records Services (NW) invested in the Archives Declassification, Review and Redaction System (ADRRES), which automates case tracking and the process of reviewing and redacting sensitive and classified materials in response to FOIA and other legal mandates. ADRRES is an automated records repository that allows staff to scan records into a FOIA case file, conduct electronic redaction, and track the request. The system also contains a search function that facilitates the production of statistical information concerning FOIA requests used for regulatory and compliance reporting. NW also uses an unclassified version of ADRRES, the Unclassified Redactions and Tracking System (URTS). Both systems have automated the FOIA review process by allowing staff to conduct automated reviews of requested documents. While this office has the advantage of automated FOIA processing, it still has to overcome the challenge of an ever increasing work load in comparison to available resources to process incoming requests. Each presidential library has a database linked to the NARA Performance Management and Reporting System for tracking statistical information concerning incoming FOIA requests performance and for annual reporting purposes. In addition, the Clinton, Bush 41 and Reagan Presidential Libraries have the Presidential Electronic Records Library (PERL) system, which contains both presidential electronic records and finding aids. These databases include document-level metadata for incoming and outgoing correspondence that was tracked during each administration by the White House Office of Records Management, which is helpful in finding documents that are responsive to FOIA requests. Each regional facility receives and processes its own FOIA requests. The vast majority of FOIA requests received by NR are for Official Military Personnel Files (OMPFs), which are processed by the NPRC. Accordingly, NARA invested in a Case Management Reporting System (CMRS), which allows for electronic tracking of all requests for OMPFs. At the NPRC, all requests pertaining to military veterans are entered into this database and then tracked and processed. All new cases are received electronically or converted to electronic images upon receipt. This system also makes it possible to obtain various kinds of analytical data about FOIA requests. Since the implementation of the system, FOIA performance has drastically improved. In the 2003 fiscal year, 60 percent of FOIA requests for military records were completed in 20 working days. By the 2005 fiscal year, the completion rate was 84percent. As of April 2010, the rate was 93 percent. To process the relatively small volume of FOIA requests for operational records, NARA has developed an automated tracking system. Tracking is done in a Microsoft Access database, which allows NARA to maintain control over the FOIA workload and capture statistical information necessary to comply with annual reporting requirements related to FOIA processing. These offices still process records using manual redaction methodology. The volume of requests and the nature of the information contained in NARA operational records make this the most feasible method. NARA logs each request it receives and provides a data feed concerning each request to the Performance Measurement and Reporting System (PMRS), which monitors the processing of FOIA requests against the goals outlined in the annual performance plan. The Chief FOIA Officer and NARA office heads use the data in PMRS to monitor processing, assess the backlog, set priorities and determine areas for improvement in the process. NARA’s current goal is to process 87 percent of FOIA requests within 20 working days. In the first quarter of 2010 fiscal year, 89 percent of requests NARA-wide were processed within the 20 days. FOIA Processing and Backlogs - NARA continues to work toward a reduction of its backlog of pending FOIA requests. NARA’s 2009 Annual FOIA Report shows that our FOIA backlog grew by 1,073 requests. Note, however, that NARA received 18,581 requests in FY09, a significant increase over the 14,075 requests received in FY08 (4,506 additional initial requests). Even with the increase in incoming requests, NARA managed to process 4,036 more requests in FY09 than in FY08. While NARA has made strides to enhance performance on the processing of FOIA requests, we are still faced with significant challenges. Like many government agencies, NARA faces budgetary and staffing limitations that impede our ability to meet FOIA goals. There are also factors unique to NARA that contribute to NARA’s inability to fully comply with the FOIA’s statutory time limits: a. The Office of Records Services – Washington DC (NW): Because NARA has no original classification authority, NW cannot make independent determinations on classified records and has limited authority to downgrade or declassify classified documents in NARA’s legal custody. Thus, the declassification consultation process prohibits NARA from responding to many FOIA requests within the statutory time limits. While in some instances agencies have provided NARA with declassification guidelines, which allow appropriately cleared NARA staff to implement declassification decisions on behalf of the equity holding agency, the guidelines only apply to a very limited category of documents. Accordingly, when the responsive records contain classified information, NARA must identify the agencies with an interest in the records and refer those documents for declassification review. NARA cannot control the review process of other agencies, which is why most requests for declassification review remain pending for months, even years, before the originating agency makes a determination. Currently NW has 291 FOIA requests that are at least 10 years old, because the records remain under review by the classifying agency. Processing delays in this instance are beyond NARA’s control. For reference, the oldest pending FOIA at NARA was filed in September of 1992. We anticipate the newly created National Declassification Center will improve this process by empowering decision makers close to these records. b. The Office of Presidential Libraries (NL): The Presidential Records Act of 1978 established a special process for accessing the Presidential records of each President starting with Ronald Reagan. The high level of interest in Presidential records and the volume of electronic records, coupled with the complex review procedures for such modern and sensitive records and the relatively limited staff resources available to Presidential libraries, have resulted in disproportionate FOIA backlogs at the Presidential libraries containing records subject to the Presidential Records Act. Moreover, as noted above, NARA has no classification authority and very little delegated declassification authority under Executive Order 13526 and therefore has to defer to agencies that originated the documents in responding to FOIA requests for classified information. Additionally, a significant number of classified Presidential records contain multiple agency equities and have to be referred, either concurrently or subsequently, to more than one agency. This further slows the declassification review process. The delays are compounded by EO 13489, which requires that when FOIA requests are submitted to Presidential libraries that are subject to the Presidential Records Act and the FOIA, NARA must notify both the incumbent and former President of the records we propose to open and then allow them an opportunity to review the records for Executive privilege prior to release. This process adds additional processing time to each pending FOIA request. c. Despite innovations at the National Personnel Records Center (within the Office of Regional Records Services (NR)) and the steady increase in processing times, some FOIA's for military records take considerably longer than the 20-day standard if the request is for a record that was lost in the 1973 fire at the NPRC and the data must be reconstructed from other sources, or if the record has been borrowed by another agency. Developing the Plan - While NARA has made strides to enhance performance on the processing of FOIA requests, we are still faced with significant challenges as we move forward to enhance our ability to fully comply with the provisions of the FOIA and reduce our pending backlog by 10 percent. The Chief FOIA Officer has, since his appointment in 2006, conducted meetings with NARA staff concerning the effective processing of incoming FOIA requests. He has briefed NARA office heads as well as the Archivist of the United States on processing issues related to our backlog of pending FOIA requests. He continues to have an open line of communication with NARA’s FOIA processing staffs to trouble-shoot problems and to facilitate a more streamlined system. In response to the Open Government Initiative and related requirements, the Chief FOIA Officer conducted a systematic review, by NARA office, to identify processing issues and to encourage staff to work within the existing resource levels to improve FOIA processing. As expected, most offices seemed concerned by the increase in backlogs due to classification and related issues. Workload and staffing levels were also an area of concern to staff. As reported in our FY 2009 Annual FOIA Report, there are no NARA staff members who process requests on a full-time basis. While we have 25 equivalent full-time FOIA staff, their responsibilities, in addition to processing FOIA requests, include responding to written reference requests (those for open records); providing textual records, maps, photographs along with non-textual media in NARA’s research rooms; fulfilling reproduction requests; and responding to a voluminous number of telephone calls and onsite consultations. FOIA requests make up only a very small portion of the way in which NARA provides access to its records every year. The Chief FOIA Officer continues to work with FOIA staff across the agency to evaluate issues that hinder our ability to meet processing time limits and reduce the pending backlog of FOIA requests. After seeking input from the individuals who process FOIA requests, NARA is working to fully implement the following initiatives as part of our Open Government Plan for improving FOIA processing. 1. Expand the use of multiple tracking queues in order to make sure that simple requests, which can be easily processed, are not caught behind more complex requests. 2. Allocate additional resources in NW to ensure that all agency responses on classified records are reconciled, and where appropriate, previously classified records or releasable portions thereof are made available and pending FOIA requests for the same records can be closed. At this time there are no plans to expand the staffing levels, however, staff is looking toward shifting priorities in an effort to accomplish this task within existing resources. 3. Target our 20 oldest FOIA requests, where a declassification determination is pending with the originating agency. We plan to remind those agencies that the requests are pending and work with them on a remedy to get extremely old cases off our queue. The Chief FOIA Officer has committed to working directly with representatives of agencies with a security interest in classified records to facilitate the prompt review of these requests. Initial contact has already been made with one agency who has agreed to work with NARA on this initiative. 4. For extremely old cases, NARA is in the process of contacting requesters to determine whether or not requesters are still interested in gaining access to the requested records, to better understand what information they are seeking, and if they are willing to narrow the request to a smaller subset of records. 5. Where needed and appropriate, NARA will use training opportunities as a method of equipping staff with the knowledge necessary to independently process FOIA request. 6. To assist with backlogs at the Presidential libraries, NARA has hired 15 new archivists to the three Presidential libraries currently subject to the FOIA (i.e., Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and William J. Clinton). The George W. Bush Library is staffed with archivists who have begun the process of organizing and preparing the records of that administration for public access in 2014. 7. In matters where delays in processing are related to NARA’s inability to reach an agreement with a FOIA requester on the scope of his or her request, segmenting extremely large requests, or over our response times, we will report these matters to the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) for possible mediation or appropriate resolution. 8. To increase access to records of the type often requested through FOIA, NARA will look to incoming FOIA requests to identify frequently requested documents for publication in our Electronic FOIA reading room. We will also consult with NARA offices on a regular and recurring basis to identify additional materials appropriate for online disclosure. More About FOIA at NARA - Information concerning NARA’s FOIA program can be found on our website at http://www.archives.gov/foia/. For information about the Office of Government Information Services, the FOIA Ombudsman, please visit section 6.2 of this plan.

Stakeholder(s):

• NARA Staff


• FOIA Requesters


• Research Community


• Office of Records Services – Washington DC (NW): The Office of Records Services – Washington DC (NW) leads the way in records management, preservation, exhibits, and public outreach. This office is responsible for planning, directing, and coordinating a comprehensive program to review, and wherever possible, declassify, security classified materials in the National Archives Building in downtown Washington and the National Archives at College Park, MD. The Office of Records Services processes FOIA requests for some of NARA’s most sensitive historical records. This office also participates in interagency programs to develop government-wide regulations for the declassification of security classified materials. In addition, the office conducts numerous “special reviews” to facilitate research of restricted materials for visiting researchers. In the 2009 fiscal year, the Records Service office received 1,564 FOIA requests and completed processing 833. Of those there was an on-time completion rate of 30 percent. Since 1999, when NARA started to measure FOIA performance, NW has answered an average of 42 percent of the FOIA requests it receives within the 20 days. The completion rate fluctuates with the volume of incoming FOIA requests, including the number of simple FOIA requests it receives and are able to quickly move through the processing queue (those that do not require complex treatment for declassification review and consultations with other agencies) compared to the number of complex requests that take much longer to process (those requiring additional review time based on the large number of responsive records or when addressing classification or other issues). Moreover, as described in more detail below, NARA’s control over many of these requests is limited because we must refer requests for classified records to the originating agencies for declassification review.


• Executive Branch Agencies


• Office of Regional Records Services: The Office of Regional Records Services (NR) consists of 22 facilities located in 13 states with responsibility for implementing NARA's archival, records management, and records center programs outside of the Washington, DC, area. These facilities are divided into nine regions. Each region operates a program encompassing the full life cycle of records, including records management activities with records creators, disposal, archival accessioning, records processing, records preservation, access to records by the public, and outreach, training and education programs. These activities center on records created by field offices of federal agencies. Each region is responsible for tracking and processing FOIA requests received for records among their holdings. Among these facilities is the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, MO, which maintains both the civilian and military personnel records for the entire Federal Government. Official Military Personnel Files (OMPFs) comprise the single most requested group of records at NARA. In the 2009 fiscal year, the NPRC received 16,537 FOIA requests and processed 16,245. Of those, 15,071 were completed within 20 working days, a completion rate of 91 percent. The number of requests that were fulfilled by providing documents containing the information the requester sought was 10,352. This high level of performance is due to enhanced performance measures for staff at the NPRC as well as investments in tracking technology that has reengineered the workflow at the facility.


• Office of General Counsel


• Office of the Federal Register


• Office of the Inspector General


• Office of Presidential Libraries: The Office of Presidential Libraries (NL) administers NARA’s nationwide network of Presidential libraries. The Presidential libraries are not traditional libraries, but rather archival depositories that preserve and make available the papers, records, and other historical materials of presidents since Herbert Hoover. Until the Presidential Records Act of 1978 (PRA) went into effect at the beginning of Ronald Reagan’s term, materials at the libraries were donated personal property. Therefore, the records were not subject to the FOIA. (The Nixon historical materials are governed by a special statute, the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act, and are also not subject to FOIA.) Each library may also contain a small amount of Executive branch agency records that are subject to the FOIA. Presidential records at the Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, William Jefferson Clinton, and George W. Bush Libraries are subject to the Presidential Records Act, which incorporates the FOIA with several variations. The PRA applies to the official records of Presidents, Vice Presidents, and their staffs. The PRA, however, restricts all public access to Presidential records for the first five years after the end of an administration. In addition, for the first 12 years, the PRA allows the President to invoke as many as six specific Presidential restrictive categories, along with eight of the nine FOIA exemptions to public access, and there is no judicial review of denied requests. After twelve years, regular FOIA procedures apply, except that the (b)(5) exemption is not available. In addition, the Presidential Records Act establishes procedures for Congress, courts, and the incumbent administration and the former President to obtain special access to records that remain closed to the public. Requests for records under the Presidential Records Act are also subject to the requirements of Executive Order 13489 on “Presidential Records” (issued January 21, 2009). This order, like its two predecessor orders, requires that NARA inform both the incumbent and former Presidents of NARA’s intent to release any Presidential records in response to a pending FOIA or any other request for access. This notification gives the incumbent and former Presidents an opportunity to decide whether or not to invoke Executive privilege over the records. The review period authorized by EO 13489 begins after all review decisions, including classification issues, have been resolved by NARA and other agencies, and the reviewed records are proposed for opening to the public. During fiscal year 2009, Presidential libraries received 257 Presidential Records Act/FOIA requests and completed 139. Of these, 37 were completed within 20 work days, for a completion rate of 14 percent. The libraries’ low completion rates are attributable to many factors, including compliance with the Executive order, the volume of incoming requests, the size of the library staff, the overwhelmingly large volume of FOIA requests submitted upon the five-year point that a new library becomes subject to FOIA (the Clinton Library received FOIA requests requiring us to process 9 million pages within the first week of Clinton Presidential records being subject to FOIA), and, the complex process required for declassification review and consultations with other agencies. The libraries continue to emphasize the importance of responding to FOIA requests within 20 working days and acknowledge requests within 20 work days, providing information concerning expected processing times. However, with long backlogs at each of the libraries and the increasing numbers of requests, it is extremely difficult to meet the statutory time limits for FOIA processing.

Indicator(s):

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