Future of FOIA?

[Anonymous]

Anyone else here work on FOIA? My agency is drowning in FOIA requests. We're still under a hiring freeze and just don't have much staff. Every time it's brought up in Congress, FOIA is actually broadened. Seems most agencies have received an increase under the new administration, mostly from reporters and NGOs.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/foia-explosion-at-epa-over-60-per-day/article/2634672 For instance the EPA got hit with a FOIA that wants all emails that mention climate change.

[Anonymous]

Conservative media decided to use FOIA as a weapon against Democrats. They made it so commonplace that now any 2 bit blogger wanting to make a name for themselves fires off a bunch of FOIA requests, hoping to find something big enough to drive attention to their blog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Conservative media decided to use FOIA as a weapon against Democrats. They made it so commonplace that now any 2 bit blogger wanting to make a name for themselves fires off a bunch of FOIA requests, hoping to find something big enough to drive attention to their blog.

And agencies have little to no teeth to stop the onslaught of FOIA requests. Do we really need scientists, program managers and engineers spending time gathering emails and records in response to FOIA requests?

[Anonymous]

Same with the ever increasing amount of "regulatory analyses" requirements mandated on any new rulemaking from one of the executive or independent agencies.

It's being misused to gum up the mission of the agencies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same with the ever increasing amount of "regulatory analyses" requirements mandated on any new rulemaking from one of the executive or independent agencies.

It's being misused to gum up the mission of the agencies.

Yes. And then they FOIA any and all emails about the regulatory analysis

[Anonymous]

Are we now advocating for a secret government with no citizen oversight or general accountability?

The new Just Trust Me government!

Yay for the JTM party

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are we now advocating for a secret government with no citizen oversight or general accountability?

The new Just Trust Me government!

Yay for the JTM party

OP here. Not at all. It's just how many people do you want processing and reading FOIA requests versus the people doing the mission work? 10 years ago we had maybe 1/10th the emails that are produced today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are we now advocating for a secret government with no citizen oversight or general accountability?

The new Just Trust Me government!

Yay for the JTM party

It's a slippery slope. Many FOIA requests are too broad. For example, the EPA may get a request for all emails related to "climate change." Ok, so then the FOIA office at the EPA needs to review all documents and emails with that phrase. It needs to redact any confidentialncy /national security information not for the public, personal information, and non-related subject matters. It's a massive expansion of government and requires armies of lawyers, paralegals, and assistants to review the documentation. It requires a ton of $$$ to fulfill the requests.

Many times, the FOIA requests are fishing expeditions.

Congress has the powers to subpoena any and all emails and documents, if they want to investigate an issue. That's where requests should come from. Likewise, the Office of Inspector General of each agency has the authority to investigate, if they suspect law breaking or abuse of agency resources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we now advocating for a secret government with no citizen oversight or general accountability?

The new Just Trust Me government!

Yay for the JTM party

OP here. Not at all. It's just how many people do you want processing and reading FOIA requests versus the people doing the mission work? 10 years ago we had maybe 1/10th the emails that are produced today.

Perhaps your discontent is misdirected. Rather than being frustrated at the request, how about looking to the prodigious producers of said emails, most of which are nonsense! How many of those are simply forwarded “FYI”-type? Or written by blowhards who want to hear themselves talk (metaphorically). If you’re that concerned about the “Mission” how about reforming those people and making that process better instead of castigating those who merely want to know that the job is being done fairly and honestly.

I know. This doesn’t apply to YOUR group. YOUR group is 100% “Mission Focused” and besides those who are asking questions of you don’t understand your Mission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we now advocating for a secret government with no citizen oversight or general accountability?

The new Just Trust Me government!

Yay for the JTM party

It's a slippery slope. Many FOIA requests are too broad. For example, the EPA may get a request for all emails related to "climate change." Ok, so then the FOIA office at the EPA needs to review all documents and emails with that phrase. It needs to redact any confidentialncy /national security information not for the public, personal information, and non-related subject matters. It's a massive expansion of government and requires armies of lawyers, paralegals, and assistants to review the documentation. It requires a ton of $$$ to fulfill the requests.

Many times, the FOIA requests are fishing expeditions.

Congress has the powers to subpoena any and all emails and documents, if they want to investigate an issue. That's where requests should come from. Likewise, the Office of Inspector General of each agency has the authority to investigate, if they suspect law breaking or abuse of agency resources.

Agreed. And most agencies are doing really well with proactive disclosures on their websites. But the fishing expeditions are real.

I just had a request for every email mentioned in my agency on a specific program. It's a program that hundreds worked on for over a year. Tens of thousands of pages of emails. The cost to our agency in manpower hours is huge and this was just because the reporter was interested in the topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we now advocating for a secret government with no citizen oversight or general accountability?

The new Just Trust Me government!

Yay for the JTM party

It's a slippery slope. Many FOIA requests are too broad. For example, the EPA may get a request for all emails related to "climate change." Ok, so then the FOIA office at the EPA needs to review all documents and emails with that phrase. It needs to redact any confidentialncy /national security information not for the public, personal information, and non-related subject matters. It's a massive expansion of government and requires armies of lawyers, paralegals, and assistants to review the documentation. It requires a ton of $$$ to fulfill the requests.

Many times, the FOIA requests are fishing expeditions.

Congress has the powers to subpoena any and all emails and documents, if they want to investigate an issue. That's where requests should come from. Likewise, the Office of Inspector General of each agency has the authority to investigate, if they suspect law breaking or abuse of agency resources.

Fox watching the hen house. Fox has sharp teeth. What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we now advocating for a secret government with no citizen oversight or general accountability?

The new Just Trust Me government!

Yay for the JTM party

OP here. Not at all. It's just how many people do you want processing and reading FOIA requests versus the people doing the mission work? 10 years ago we had maybe 1/10th the emails that are produced today.

Perhaps your discontent is misdirected. Rather than being frustrated at the request, how about looking to the prodigious producers of said emails, most of which are nonsense! How many of those are simply forwarded “FYI”-type? Or written by blowhards who want to hear themselves talk (metaphorically). If you’re that concerned about the “Mission” how about reforming those people and making that process better instead of castigating those who merely want to know that the job is being done fairly and honestly.

I know. This doesn’t apply to YOUR group. YOUR group is 100% “Mission Focused” and besides those who are asking questions of you don’t understand your Mission.

Why should my coworkers have to censor themselves and send less emails in advance of FOIA requests?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we now advocating for a secret government with no citizen oversight or general accountability?

The new Just Trust Me government!

Yay for the JTM party

It's a slippery slope. Many FOIA requests are too broad. For example, the EPA may get a request for all emails related to "climate change." Ok, so then the FOIA office at the EPA needs to review all documents and emails with that phrase. It needs to redact any confidentialncy /national security information not for the public, personal information, and non-related subject matters. It's a massive expansion of government and requires armies of lawyers, paralegals, and assistants to review the documentation. It requires a ton of $$$ to fulfill the requests.

Many times, the FOIA requests are fishing expeditions.

Congress has the powers to subpoena any and all emails and documents, if they want to investigate an issue. That's where requests should come from. Likewise, the Office of Inspector General of each agency has the authority to investigate, if they suspect law breaking or abuse of agency resources.

Agreed. And most agencies are doing really well with proactive disclosures on their websites. But the fishing expeditions are real.

I just had a request for every email mentioned in my agency on a specific program. It's a program that hundreds worked on for over a year. Tens of thousands of pages of emails. The cost to our agency in manpower hours is huge and this was just because the reporter was interested in the topic.

Do the reporters need to pay a filing fee for FOIA requests? Do they pay by the page?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we now advocating for a secret government with no citizen oversight or general accountability?

The new Just Trust Me government!

Yay for the JTM party

It's a slippery slope. Many FOIA requests are too broad. For example, the EPA may get a request for all emails related to "climate change." Ok, so then the FOIA office at the EPA needs to review all documents and emails with that phrase. It needs to redact any confidentialncy /national security information not for the public, personal information, and non-related subject matters. It's a massive expansion of government and requires armies of lawyers, paralegals, and assistants to review the documentation. It requires a ton of $$$ to fulfill the requests.

Many times, the FOIA requests are fishing expeditions.

Congress has the powers to subpoena any and all emails and documents, if they want to investigate an issue. That's where requests should come from. Likewise, the Office of Inspector General of each agency has the authority to investigate, if they suspect law breaking or abuse of agency resources.

Fox watching the hen house. Fox has sharp teeth. What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

OMB also oversees agencies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we now advocating for a secret government with no citizen oversight or general accountability?

The new Just Trust Me government!

Yay for the JTM party

It's a slippery slope. Many FOIA requests are too broad. For example, the EPA may get a request for all emails related to "climate change." Ok, so then the FOIA office at the EPA needs to review all documents and emails with that phrase. It needs to redact any confidentialncy /national security information not for the public, personal information, and non-related subject matters. It's a massive expansion of government and requires armies of lawyers, paralegals, and assistants to review the documentation. It requires a ton of $$$ to fulfill the requests.

Many times, the FOIA requests are fishing expeditions.

Congress has the powers to subpoena any and all emails and documents, if they want to investigate an issue. That's where requests should come from. Likewise, the Office of Inspector General of each agency has the authority to investigate, if they suspect law breaking or abuse of agency resources.

Agreed. And most agencies are doing really well with proactive disclosures on their websites. But the fishing expeditions are real.

I just had a request for every email mentioned in my agency on a specific program. It's a program that hundreds worked on for over a year. Tens of thousands of pages of emails. The cost to our agency in manpower hours is huge and this was just because the reporter was interested in the topic.

So government is now exempt fro reporters reporting on it.

Trump loves you.