The FOIA Ombudsman

OGIS’s outreach is on a roll! This week OGIS staff presented twice to audiences of FOIA requesters as part of the National Archives’ “Know Your Records” series. This was a great opportunity to hear from those in the field – most of whom are not sophisticated FOIA requesters — about their FOIA concerns. While this [...]

For over a year now, we at OGIS have regularly presented dispute resolution skills training sessions to FOIA professionals at various agencies. It’s been a fun, exciting effort that has given us an opportunity to meet FOIA professionals from all across the government. Unfortunately — with the exception of the few sessions we presented at [...]

Conventional wisdom holds that August is quiet in Washington, D.C. While we at OGIS cannot attest to that — it seems we are busier than ever this month — we suggest that August is a great time to learn something new, namely, FOIA dispute resolution skills! We will present our Dispute Resolution Skills for FOIA [...]

As we head into the July 4th weekend, it is a great time to think about the freedoms we enjoy as Americans. But July 4 th is more than a day that we celebrate our country’s birth – this year, it is also FOIA’s 45th birthday!   On July 4, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson [...]

On Tuesday June 21, OGIS presented another round of dispute resolution skills training to FOIA professionals and requesters, this time at the American Society of Access Professionals (ASAP) Training Series conference. While no two training sessions are exactly alike, Tuesday’s session was particularly notable for the interesting discussion about what FOIA professionals actually do. The [...]

As difficult as it sometimes can be to navigate our Freedom of Information Act in the U.S., the Act contributes to press freedom– a freedom that only one in six of the world’s inhabitants has, according to statistics released this week during  World Press Freedom Day. Free expression advocates from around the world gathered in [...]

On April 26, the OGIS staff (along with our friend Jean Whyte from NARA’s Alternative Dispute Resolution program) presented a daylong training session entitled “Dispute Resolution Skills Training for FOIA Professionals” to representatives from agencies across the Government. As with previous offerings of this training over the past year, the Justice Department’s Office of Information [...]

No disappearing documents at this MAGIC show: experts in government access — from journalists to Federal and state government officials to watch-dog groups — gathered Tuesday at the National Archives to discuss making government more transparent. While the topics discussed at the Media Access to Government Information Conference (MAGIC)  were wide-ranging — from declassification to [...]

FOIA professionals – particularly FOIA Public Liaisons – deal frequently with disputes. In fact, the amended Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. § 552) directs FOIA Public Liaisons to help resolve FOIA disputes. In order to equip these key FOIA staff members with useful tools to productively manage conflict, we are offering a free dispute [...]

Last week – March 14-18 – was Sunshine Week. Did you feel the glow? This annual initiative, which coincides with national FOI Day and James Madison’s birthday (March 16), is designed to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of information and open government. Why is Sunshine Week celebrated on Madison’s birthday? Besides being instrumental [...]