Freedom Of Information Act Processing Trends Show Importance Of Improvement Plans

Freedom of Information Act: Processing Trends Show Importance of Improvement Plans

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) establishes that federal agencies must provide access to their information, enabling the public to learn about government operations and decisions. To help ensure proper implementation, the act requires that agencies report annually to the Attorney General, giving specific information about their FOIA operations, such as numbers of requests received and processed and median processing times. Also, a recent Executive Order directs agencies to develop plans to improve FOIA operations, including decreasing backlog. For this study, GAO was asked to examine the status and trends of FOIA processing at 25 major agencies as reflected in annual reports, as well as the extent to which improvement plans contain the elements emphasized by the Executive Order. To do so, GAO analyzed the 25 agencies' annual reports and improvement plans.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) establishes that federal agencies must provide the public with access to government information, thus enabling them to learn about government operations and decisions. To help ensure appropriate implementation, the act requires that agencies report annually to the Attorney General, providing specific information about their FOIA operations. In addition, a recent Executive Order directs agencies to develop plans to improve their FOIA operations, including, among other things, goals to reduce backlogs in FOIA requests. GAO has reported previously on the contents of these annual reports for 25 major agencies. For this hearing, GAO was asked to testify both on the annual reports for fiscal year 2005 and on the recently developed improvement plans for these 25 agencies. GAO based its testimony on its ongoing work on these topics. Upon completion of its ongoing review, GAO expects to make recommendations to improve agency implementation of the Executive Order, including efforts to reduce and eliminate backlog.

Freedom of Information Act : preliminary analysis of processing trends shows importance of improvement plans : testimony before the Subcommittee on Government Management, Finance, and Accountability, Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives

The Freedom of Info. Act (FOIA) establishes that fed. agencies must provide access to their info., enabling the public to learn about gov¿t. operations & decisions. The act requires that agencies report annually to the Attorney Gen., giving specific info. about their FOIA operations, such as numbers of requests received & processed & median processing times. Also, a recent Exec. Order (EO) directs agencies to develop plans to improve FOIA operations, incl. decreasing backlog. For this study, the author examined the status & trends of FOIA processing at 25 major agencies as reflected in annual reports, as well as the extent to which improvement plans contain the elements emphasized by the EO. Includes recommendations. Charts.