Of the 15 federal agencies that receive the most Freedom of Information Act requests –nine-tenths of the total government-wide – eight improved their compliance in the most recent annual report card by a watchdog group, but only two, Agriculture and SSA, scored as high as a B.
The report from the Center for Effective Government gave the top score to USDA at 85 percent, and SSA a B-minus at 82 percent, while only three others scored as a C or C-minus—Justice, EEOC and the National Archives and Records Administration. State fell at the bottom with a 37 percent grade and HHS also got an F at 57 percent. In the D-plus to D-minus range were DHS, DoT, Treasury, EPA, VA, Labor, DoD and SEC.
Grading was based on the establishment of clear agency rules guiding the release of information and communication with those requesting information; the quality and “user-friendliness” of an agency’s FOIA website; and the timely, complete processing of requests for information.
Overall, the area of greatest improvement involved websites, while timely processing of requests remains the biggest negative, with performance dropping in eight of those agencies. The biggest gainer overall was DHS, up 15 points, followed by Agriculture, 10; Labor, DoD, VA, the Archives, Transportation and Treasure were also up. The biggest drop was at SEC, down six points.
A separate report by an open government group, the National Security Archive, focused on compliance with the Electronic Freedom of Information Amendments, which called for agencies to electronically post records they have released through FOIA. Agencies in the top group were Energy, State, FBI and NRC, while at the bottom were DEA, EEOC, National Protection and Programs Directorate and Office of Science and Technology Policy.
A bipartisan FOIA reform bill, HR-653, that passed the House last year is pending again and recently was the subject of a subcommittee hearing. The bill would among other things establish a presumption that agencies must disclose documents unless they can show that a specific harm would result from disclosure. Sponsors say that under current policy, only 30 percent of requests result in the disclosure of all requested documents.
