EFFECTIVE FOIA REQUESTING FOR EVERYONE A National Security Archive Guide © 2008 by the National Security Archive All rights reserved No part of this guide may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher Funding for this publication provided by The Institute for European Russian and Eurasian Studies IERES through a grant from The Andrew W Mellon Foundation The National Security Archive Gelman Library Suite 701 2130 H Street NW Washington DC 20037 202 994-7000 E-mail nsarchiv@gwu edu Web site http www nsarchive org Table of Contents Preface v About This Guide vii Chapter One Introduction What is the FOIA 1 Chapter Two First Steps Getting Started with the FOIA 5 Chapter Three Pen to Paper Writing a FOIA Request 11 Chapter Four Another Way Mandatory Declassification Review 23 Chapter Five A Second Look Appealing Agency Denials 29 Chapter Six Going to Court Litigating Your FOIA Request 52 Notes Appendices 54 Glossary of Key Terms and Acronyms 55 Federal Agencies Subject to the FOIA 61 Sample Request Letters 65 How to Read Agency Documents 67 Additional Resources 75 The Freedom of Information Act 79 Executive Order 12958 as amended 93 List of Figures Figure 1 1 FOIA Quick Reference 1 Figure 1 2 Follow a Request through the FOIA Process 3 Figure 2 1 Locating Agency FOIA Web Sites 5 Figure 2 2 Publication of Required Records 6 Figure 2 3 Drafting a FOIA Request Subject 7 Figure 3 1 FOIA Fee Categories 12 Figure 3 2 Grounds for Expedited Processing 15 Figure 3 3 How to Find Agency FOIA Regulations 16 Figure 3 4 Understanding FOIA Request Processing at the Agency 18 Figure 3 5 Summary of the FOIA Exemptions 19 Figure 4 1 Comparison of FOIA and MDR 24 Figure 4 2 FOIA versus MDR 25 Figure 4 3 MDR Deadlines 27 Figure 5 1 Adverse Determinations That Can Be Appealed 29 Figure 5 2 Locating and Reading a FOIA Court Decision 33 Figure 5 3 Classification Categories 39 Figure 5 4 Locating an Exemption 3 Statute in the U S Code 41 Figure 6 1 Additional Resources for FOIA Litigation 52 Preface The Freedom of Information Act FOIA is one of the glories of American democracy yet—like democracy—making the law actually work requires real effort both inside and outside of government Based on more than two decades of FOIA experience here at the National Security Archive we offer this guide to help make the law work for you The concept of “publicity for official documents” originated in late-eighteenth-century Europe when a new parliamentary majority in Sweden and Finland opened up the secret budgets and trade monopolies of its predecessors The idea that government information belonged to the people was transformational Today the levels of government transparency across Scandinavia are the greatest in the world and more than eighty other countries have enacted FOIA laws most of them just in the past few years Requesters in those countries could no doubt use a guide like this for their own laws Congress passed the US Freedom of Information Act in 1966 after a campaign led by newspaper editors and members of Congress seeking greater accountability for the executive branch The Watergate scandal resulted in amendments that significantly strengthened the FOIA including the requirement of greater court review of agency decisions US government agencies now answer more than four million requests each year the majority from veterans senior citizens and their families seeking their own records Most of these requests are handled fairly quickly by the agencies More difficult are the approximately one million requests that require search and review inside government and precision and persistence by the requester Here is where our guide should help The authors acquired their expertise the hard way through a half-dozen government-wide audits of agency performance under the FOIA Supported by the John S and James L Knight Foundation since 2001 these audits have covered all of the more than ninety federal agencies with formal FOIA operations plus more than a dozen major agency components that handle large numbers of requests see http www gwu edu nsarchiv nsa foia audits htm The Archive’s own experience with thousands of FOIA and MDR requests also provides a wealth of data and fundamental lessons that you will find in these pages There may come a time when the World Wide Web makes it possible for government to put almost all of its workings online and FOIA requests will be the exception rather than the rule for acquiring government information But we are not there yet Good luck in using this guide and remember when you make the FOIA work for you you are making democracy work for all of us Tom Blanton Executive Director National Security Archive -v-