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The act that gave citizens the power to request information from federal government files celebrates its 40th anniversary on July 4. But those seeking data continue to encounter long delays despite a 2005 order by President Bush to clear the unanswered backlog.
A new study released Monday found one requester has been waiting 20 years for the State Department to produce documents it has about the Church of Scientology.
Two more unanswered requests were made in 1988 and three in 1989, according to the survey by the National Security Archive, a private research group at George Washington University.
Five agencies -- the State Department, Air Force, CIA, the Justice Department's criminal division and the FBI
-- still haven't answered some requests made 15 or more years ago, the Archive found.
The Archive is a heavy user of the act and, with aid from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, does periodic audits of how well the law is administered.
The latest study concluded backlogs are "out of control." For most federal agencies, meeting the law's deadline for a response in 20 business days "is an exception rather than a standard practice," the study said.
"Forty years after the law went into effect, we're seeing 20 years of delay," said Archive director Tom Blanton. "This kind of inexcusable delay by federal agencies just keeps us in the dark."
Among the findings from responses by 57 agencies to the Archives' Jan. 29, 2007 FOIA request for data on backlogs:
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Only four agencies reported no backlog: the Small Business Administration, Army Department Materiel Command, Naval Education and Training Command and Labor Department Employee Benefits Security Administration.
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Twelve agencies had requests pending 10 years or more.
Ten agencies misreported their oldest pending FOIA request to Congress
in annual reports required by law: the Agriculture Department Animal and
Health Inspection Service, Air Force, Commerce Department, CIA, Director of
National Intelligence, FBI, National Science Foundation, State, Treasury,
and Justice's Office of Information and Privacy, which is supposed to
provide governmentwide guidance on FOIA compliance.
One-third of the agencies that received the January Archive request on
backlogs have not responded. Twelve agencies still have not responded to the
Archive's 2005 request for similar data.
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 "Some agencies have located pending requests older than those
reported to the Archive in 2003 and those reported to Congress as
recently as this year, suggesting not only a broken system, but one
immersed in confusion and disarray," the study said.
Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, have
sponsored the OPEN Government Act to speed agency responses. It
would compel agencies to more accurately track its pending requests.
Citing Justice Department objections, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., put
a hold on the bill, blocking a Senate floor vote. Kyl's staff is
discussing the concerns with Justice and Leahy's staff, according to
a Kyl spokesman who requested anonymity under standard policy for
Hill offices. "There are no fundamental objections, and the hope is
we'll be able to reach a consensus," he said.
Kyl and Justice objected to a provision that would prohibit
agencies from using some of the law's exemptions if the 20-day
deadline was missed, but Leahy and House backers of the bill have
agreed to delete that in favor of a provision that would prohibit
charging fees for late responses. There is also disagreement over
whether to require agencies to pay attorney fees for requesters if
the agency settles part way through a lawsuit.
In a written statement, the Justice Department said Bush's 2005
order "provides a comprehensive framework for agencies ... to
improve their administration of the FOIA" and they have already
begun to do so.
The Justice Department denied misreporting to Congress the Office
of Information & Privacy's oldest pending request. It said it used
the date the request was received, Feb. 5, 2002, not the date it was
sent, Oct. 22, 2001, which the Archive cited.
The requester, attorney Rick Cinquegrana, who worked down the
hall from OIP during 1980-1991, said the difference probably
resulted from lengthy offsite screening of Justice mail in late
2001-early 2002 for anthrax contamination. Cinquegrana, who sought
data on FOIA administration to update a law review article he had
written, said Monday, "I've largely given up on getting an answer."
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On the Net:
National Security Archive: http://www.nsarchive.org
[Associated
Press; by Michael J. Sniffen] |
