The FOIA Ombudsman

Documents declassified by the government’s highest classification authority will soon be posted online in a new government declassification portal, a Federal declassification expert said at a July 25, 2012 FOIA Requester Roundtable. William C. Carpenter of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) at the National Archives provided tips on a variety of declassification issues and [...]

FOIA and Mandatory Declassification Reviews (MDRs) have some things in common — for instance, both provide access to information — but in practical terms they are very different. If you would like to learn more about both, please join OGIS, the Information Security Oversight Office and the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy for the next FOIA [...]

Note: An OGIS-sponsored forum on immigration records on May 23 brought together FOIA professionals from agencies which maintain immigration records with immigration attorneys and others interested in such records. The FOIA Ombudsman: Information & Advice is spot-lighting each agency, the types of immigration records each holds and tips for obtaining those records under FOIA. U.S. [...]

Immigration records offer a wealth of valuable information for immigrants, genealogists, journalists, academic researchers and others. However, several agencies maintain immigration records, so finding them can challenge even the savviest FOIA requester. Join agency representatives and requesters for an OGIS Forum on immigration records on Wednesday, May 23, from 10:00 a.m. to noon. This event, [...]

Have you ever wondered why it takes so long for an agency to find responsive records after you make a FOIA request? After all, isn’t there a “Government Google” that allows an agency to search its records with a few keystrokes? Or, have you received a FOIA fee estimate in the thousands of dollars because [...]

OGIS is pleased to announce that we’re sponsoring a unique event to mark Sunshine Week (March 9-16, 2012), a celebration of government openness. Our parent agency, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), is acknowledging Sunshine Week by showcasing the original Freedom of Information Act, Public Law 89-487. The original historic document will be available [...]

Signs of spring are appearing in Washington – robins abound, crocuses are in bloom, food truck patrons eat outside rather than scurrying back to the office – and that can only mean one thing: Sunshine Week is nearly here! We at OGIS eagerly anticipate this weeklong (March 11-17, 2012) celebration of government openness, scheduled to [...]

Records requests pertaining to third-party individuals are the next order of business for the FOIA Requester Roundtable series co-hosted by OGIS and the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy. The roundtable will be from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday January 24 at the National Archives, 7th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington DC, near [...]

FOIA’s Exemption 4 protects from disclosure commercial and financial information provided to the government by individuals and a wide range of entities – from corporations and banks to Native American tribes. The idea is to safeguard certain private business records in government files. About two dozen representatives of the agency and requester communities participated in [...]

Interested in contractor and other business-related records in the FOIA context? OGIS and the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy are gearing up to host the next FOIA Requester Roundtable from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesday Oct. 19, 2011. The roundtable will be at OIP, 1425 New York Ave. NW, Suite 11050, Washington DC, [...]