SURPRISE! Half of Federal Agencies Still Use Outdated Freedom - TopicsExpress



          

SURPRISE! Half of Federal Agencies Still Use Outdated Freedom of Information Regulations 50 out of 101 not in compliance with 2007 Congressional changes to the statute 55 still ignoring the 2009 Obama/Holder guidance for presumption of openness National Security Archive FOIA Audit highlights delinquent agencies; praises Congressional and White House plans for updated regulations Archive warns updating is not enough without including best practices Posted - March 14, 2014 For more information contact: Tom Blanton/Nate Jones/Lauren Harper 202/994-7000 or [email protected] Washington, DC, March 14, 2014 -- Nearly half (50 out of 101) of all federal agencies have still not updated their Freedom of Information Act regulations to comply with Congresss 2007 FOIA amendments, and even more agencies (55 of 101) have FOIA regulations that predate and ignore President Obamas and Attorney General Holders 2009 guidance for a presumption of disclosure, according to the new National Security Archive FOIA Audit released today to mark Sunshine Week. Congress amended the Freedom of Information Act in 2007 to prohibit agencies from charging processing fees if they missed their response deadlines, to include new online journalists in the fee waiver category for the media, to order agencies to cooperate with the new FOIA ombudsman (the Office of Government Information Services, OGIS), and to require reports of specific data on their FOIA output, among other provisions co-authored by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and John Cornyn (R-TX). But half the government has yet to incorporate these changes in their regulations, according to the latest National Security Archive FOIA Audit. After President Obamas Day One commitments to open government, Attorney General Eric Holder issued new FOIA guidance on March 19, 2009, declaring that agencies should adopt a presumption of disclosure, encourage discretionary releases if there was no foreseeable harm (even if technically covered by an exemption), proactively post the records of greatest public interest online, and remove unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles from the FOIA process. But five years later, the Archive found a majority of agencies have old regulations that simply ignore this guidance. The Archives FOIA Audit also highlights some good news this Sunshine Week: New plans from both the House of Representatives and White House have the potential to compel delinquent agencies to update their regulations. Both Congress and the White House now recognize the problem of outdated FOIA regulations, and that is something to celebrate, said Archive director Tom Blanton. But new regs should not follow the Justice Departments terrible lead, they must follow the best practices already identified by the FOIA ombuds office and FOIA experts. Check out todays posting at the National Security Archives - www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB460/ Find us on Facebook - facebook/NSArchive Unredacted, the Archive blog - nsarchive.wordpress/
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 06:21:59 +0000

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