AP review of Obama administration’s record on FOIA at a glance
By APTuesday, March 16, 2010
AP analysis of Obama FOIA record at a glance
To mark Sunshine Week, when news organizations promote open government and freedom of information, The Associated Press reviewed annual Freedom of Information Act reports filed by 17 agencies.
The review included the 2008 and 2009 budget year FOIA reports from the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury and Veterans Affairs; the Environmental Protection Agency; and the Federal Reserve Board. Among the findings:
—The government’s use of nearly every one of nine major FOIA exemptions to withhold part or all the information sought in requests rose in fiscal 2009, President Barack Obama’s first fiscal year in office, compared with budget year 2008.
—In all, the agencies reviewed by the AP reported getting 444,924 FOIA requests in fiscal 2009, compared with 493,610 in fiscal 2008. Besides those cases, they started each year with FOIA requests pending: 145,162 as the 2009 budget year began last October; 156,611 as the 2008 fiscal period started.
—The agencies processed 501,158 FOIA requests in the 2009 period, compared with 504,110 the previous year.
—Much of the Obama administration’s early effort on FOIA seems to have been aimed at clearing out the backlog of old cases: The number of requests still sitting around past the time limits spelled out in the open-records law fell from 124,019 in budget year 2008 to 67,764 at the end of the most recent budget year over the 17 agencies, the AP’s review found. There is no way to tell whether those whose old cases were closed ultimately received the information they wanted.
—The agencies reviewed provided everything sought in FOIA requests in at least 162,205 cases last fiscal year, compared with 196,776 the previous year.
—They granted FOIA fee waiver requests 4,333 times and denied them 2,472 times in the most recent fiscal year. In budget year 2008, they granted them 3,693 times and refused them 2,590 times. Those figures exclude the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which didn’t track fee waiver requests.
—They denied FOIA requests in their entirety based on exemptions 20,005 times last fiscal year, compared with 21,057 times the previous year.
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On the Net:
Freedom of Information Act annual reports: www.justice.gov/oip/04_6.html
