I am a FOIA Officer and Hate It

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d kill to have your job

Why? What do you think my job is like? I literally receive at least 50 requests per month. Many of them ask for emails and large batches of records - think 100s of pages. It is like doing doc review. I read until my eyes glaze over, redact and on to the next one. I am usually responding beyond deadline which means I have the threat of litigation hanging over my head. Plus I do this job for an agency full of attorneys and every attorney has an opinion about the records they provide me and what is exempt/not exempt even though none of them have any experience. I can't imagine why someone would ever want this job. I have NO staff so it is only me. My brain is fried.

Switch agencies. An attorney shouldn’t be processing FOIAs, especially if you are getting that many a month. Initial FOIA processing is a GIS job.

Definitely switch agencies - there should be more funding and support for FOIA and yours isn’t providing it. Seems really weird that your agency gets 50 requests A MONTH and they expect one person to process them all? Also sounds like you are underutilizing the FOIA processing software, so look into more training for that [I know you don’t have the time or agency support to get that].

Don’t lose sleep over the threat of litigation, that is your agency’s problem and if they point fingers at you, you are understaffed. Look at the numbers on foia.gov of requests received at other agencies and how many FTEs they have working if you need some backup to show how woefully understaffed you are. Though you know this right, as the FOIA Officer, you are submitting the report to DOJ, so you now all about foia.gov. If you aren’t submitting it, than you are not the CHIEF FOIA Officer and there must be someone else on the staff.

And many attorneys do initial FOIA processing to some degree as part of their jobs, though I agree, you should have a GIS on staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d kill to have your job

Why? What do you think my job is like? I literally receive at least 50 requests per month. Many of them ask for emails and large batches of records - think 100s of pages. It is like doing doc review. I read until my eyes glaze over, redact and on to the next one. I am usually responding beyond deadline which means I have the threat of litigation hanging over my head. Plus I do this job for an agency full of attorneys and every attorney has an opinion about the records they provide me and what is exempt/not exempt even though none of them have any experience. I can't imagine why someone would ever want this job. I have NO staff so it is only me. My brain is fried.

I do doc review. I’m tired of being ashamed of my work

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely switch agencies - there should be more funding and support for FOIA and yours isn’t providing it. Seems really weird that your agency gets 50 requests A MONTH and they expect one person to process them all? Also sounds like you are underutilizing the FOIA processing software, so look into more training for that [I know you don’t have the time or agency support to get that].

Don’t lose sleep over the threat of litigation, that is your agency’s problem and if they point fingers at you, you are understaffed. Look at the numbers on foia.gov of requests received at other agencies and how many FTEs they have working if you need some backup to show how woefully understaffed you are. Though you know this right, as the FOIA Officer, you are submitting the report to DOJ, so you now all about foia.gov. If you aren’t submitting it, than you are not the CHIEF FOIA Officer and there must be someone else on the staff.

And many attorneys do initial FOIA processing to some degree as part of their jobs, though I agree, you should have a GIS on staff.

This is excellent advice.

OP, it sounds like your current job is giving you solid experience for working with FOIA somewhere else where they either have more interesting FOIA work, or more staff, or both. As to the threat of litigation, look at it this way: if someone does sue over a FOIA request, it'd be a great chance to get some experience in FOIA litigation—which will help in getting a FOIA job that doesn't have quite so much drudge work. And litigation is where most of the FOIA fun is, anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d kill to have your job

Why? What do you think my job is like? I literally receive at least 50 requests per month. Many of them ask for emails and large batches of records - think 100s of pages. It is like doing doc review. I read until my eyes glaze over, redact and on to the next one. I am usually responding beyond deadline which means I have the threat of litigation hanging over my head. Plus I do this job for an agency full of attorneys and every attorney has an opinion about the records they provide me and what is exempt/not exempt even though none of them have any experience. I can't imagine why someone would ever want this job. I have NO staff so it is only me. My brain is fried.

I do doc review. I’m tired of being ashamed of my work

That’s on you - stop being ashamed of what you do and stop blaming the doc review for your self-image

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely switch agencies - there should be more funding and support for FOIA and yours isn’t providing it. Seems really weird that your agency gets 50 requests A MONTH and they expect one person to process them all? Also sounds like you are underutilizing the FOIA processing software, so look into more training for that [I know you don’t have the time or agency support to get that].

Don’t lose sleep over the threat of litigation, that is your agency’s problem and if they point fingers at you, you are understaffed. Look at the numbers on foia.gov of requests received at other agencies and how many FTEs they have working if you need some backup to show how woefully understaffed you are. Though you know this right, as the FOIA Officer, you are submitting the report to DOJ, so you now all about foia.gov. If you aren’t submitting it, than you are not the CHIEF FOIA Officer and there must be someone else on the staff.

And many attorneys do initial FOIA processing to some degree as part of their jobs, though I agree, you should have a GIS on staff.

This is excellent advice.

OP, it sounds like your current job is giving you solid experience for working with FOIA somewhere else where they either have more interesting FOIA work, or more staff, or both. As to the threat of litigation, look at it this way: if someone does sue over a FOIA request, it'd be a great chance to get some experience in FOIA litigation—which will help in getting a FOIA job that doesn't have quite so much drudge work. And litigation is where most of the FOIA fun is, anyway.

OP said she didn’t want litigation, though. Also, litigation may get farmed out to another section (that’s what happens at my agency)

[Anonymous]

Why? What do you think my job is like? I literally receive at least 50 requests per month. Many of them ask for emails and large batches of records - think 100s of pages. It is like doing doc review. I read until my eyes glaze over, redact and on to the next one. I am usually responding beyond deadline which means I have the threat of litigation hanging over my head. Plus I do this job for an agency full of attorneys and every attorney has an opinion about the records they provide me and what is exempt/not exempt even though none of them have any experience. I can't imagine why someone would ever want this job. I have NO staff so it is only me. My brain is fried.

NP. I don't think I would enjoy the job. However, at the same time, there are attorneys doing doc review work on a contract basis getting paid $23 an hour with no health insurance benefits. So yes, there are people who would kill to have your job. I understand why you don't like it, and I hope you can move on to something better, but it is important to have perspective until you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What else can I do? I'm overwhelmed, we are understaffed and everyone hates me when I ask for their records. The public is constantly harassing me about responses and records. I'm an attorney but don't want to litigate.

You don't need to litigate to go work for a law firm or other entity that would put your background to good use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely switch agencies - there should be more funding and support for FOIA and yours isn’t providing it. Seems really weird that your agency gets 50 requests A MONTH and they expect one person to process them all? Also sounds like you are underutilizing the FOIA processing software, so look into more training for that [I know you don’t have the time or agency support to get that].

Don’t lose sleep over the threat of litigation, that is your agency’s problem and if they point fingers at you, you are understaffed. Look at the numbers on foia.gov of requests received at other agencies and how many FTEs they have working if you need some backup to show how woefully understaffed you are. Though you know this right, as the FOIA Officer, you are submitting the report to DOJ, so you now all about foia.gov. If you aren’t submitting it, than you are not the CHIEF FOIA Officer and there must be someone else on the staff.

And many attorneys do initial FOIA processing to some degree as part of their jobs, though I agree, you should have a GIS on staff.

This is excellent advice.

OP, it sounds like your current job is giving you solid experience for working with FOIA somewhere else where they either have more interesting FOIA work, or more staff, or both. As to the threat of litigation, look at it this way: if someone does sue over a FOIA request, it'd be a great chance to get some experience in FOIA litigation—which will help in getting a FOIA job that doesn't have quite so much drudge work. And litigation is where most of the FOIA fun is, anyway.

OP said she didn’t want litigation, though. Also, litigation may get farmed out to another section (that’s what happens at my agency)

Yes, it gets farmed out to another division.

[Anonymous]

Can you go to a law firm and help clients draft FOIAs?

[Anonymous]

I thought GS 9s went through all the FOIA requests and just asked attorneys for advice. I'm pretty shocked people actively look into doing FOIA as a career, seems both boring and overwhelming.

[Anonymous]

OP, FWIW, as a person who has to routinely submit FOIA requests, I am genuinely grateful for what you do, know that it's a damn thankless job, and try my best to be a kind and thankful (and specific with a date range) human being when I make these requests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d kill to have your job

Why? What do you think my job is like? I literally receive at least 50 requests per month. Many of them ask for emails and large batches of records - think 100s of pages. It is like doing doc review. I read until my eyes glaze over, redact and on to the next one. I am usually responding beyond deadline which means I have the threat of litigation hanging over my head. Plus I do this job for an agency full of attorneys and every attorney has an opinion about the records they provide me and what is exempt/not exempt even though none of them have any experience. I can't imagine why someone would ever want this job. I have NO staff so it is only me. My brain is fried.

DP.

Different boats for different folks. Some people like monotony. I'm almost sure you have very few meetings to deal with either. Maybe 1-2 month check-ins with your reporting supervisors? No Zoom calls. You do your doc review silently and efficiently, meeting certain metrics per day, and you're done. No crazy side projects or implementations to work through.

Interesting point! My job is all crazy side projects, new partners, implementation and Zoom. I love it TBH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d kill to have your job

Why? What do you think my job is like? I literally receive at least 50 requests per month. Many of them ask for emails and large batches of records - think 100s of pages. It is like doing doc review. I read until my eyes glaze over, redact and on to the next one. I am usually responding beyond deadline which means I have the threat of litigation hanging over my head. Plus I do this job for an agency full of attorneys and every attorney has an opinion about the records they provide me and what is exempt/not exempt even though none of them have any experience. I can't imagine why someone would ever want this job. I have NO staff so it is only me. My brain is fried.

I do doc review. I’m tired of being ashamed of my work

Why would you be ashamed of your needed, tangible work?

[Anonymous]

FOIA officer or FOIA processor? I'm a FOIA officer and absolutely love what I do. I manage it for my agency so I really do have the power to make changes, get AI, discovery software, staffing needs, mandate better records. I run a tight ship and we have pretty much no backlog whatsoever.

I will say that FOIA is a sinking ship. I totally understand that you get requests for thousands and thousands of pages, people pay absolutely $0, and then sue you when you don't release 100,000 pages in 20 days. It's ridiculous and out of control. Lawsuits are out of control government wide. Unmanaged email systems are really killing us. It pains me when requesters are just doing bogus searches on vague terms like "climate change" or something and don't have an article they're writing. I believe in government transparency and my mission, but we're swamped!

I often wish I had the ability to speak with other FOIA officers at other agencies.

[Anonymous]

I had a relative who was a FOIA lawyer for newspapers and other free speech/public records organizations and she absolutely loved it. She did not litigate--she advised clients and negotiated with the government. So, maybe, consider switching sides and getting a job in the private sector?