Then last month, a bipartisan group of six lawmakers wrote to Garland and asked him to issue a memo to all agencies encouraging them to emphasize “openness and transparency” as well as outline any steps the Justice Department is taking to implement recommendations from GAO on proactive disclosures and reporting requirements. The co-signers noted he hadn’t taken any meaningful action on FOIA since getting sworn in in March 2021. In January, a diverse group of 25 organizations urged Garland to take action to “implement a ‘generous’ reading of FOIA” as he testified during his confirmation hearing, such as by issuing updated guidance. Additionally, “I encourage each agency head to provide regular and proper training to your workforce that explains the importance of FOIA and every individual's role in administering it.” Lastly, “I urge agency Chief FOIA Officers to undertake comprehensive reviews of all aspects of their agencies' FOIA administration, with a particular focus on the concerns highlighted in this memorandum,” wrote Garland in the memo. The watchdog also found that from fiscal year 2012 to fiscal year 2020, the backlog of appeals increased by 63%. GAO found that FOIA request backlogs increased by 18% from fiscal year 2019 to fiscal 2020, which was the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and backlogged requests have generally been increasing since fiscal 2016.

The new guidance also stresses that proactive disclosures of documents and information are “fundamental to the faithful application of FOIA ” promotes timeliness of responses and encourages agencies to continue removing barriers to requesting and accessing records as well as reducing their FOIA backlogs. The new guidance from Garland follows Obama’s goals of a “presumption of openness” and directs agencies “make it clear that the Justice Department will not defend nondisclosure decisions that fail to do so,” said the Justice Department.Īccording to the Government Accountability Office, agencies’ use of (b)(3) exemptions – a provision of the Freedom of Information Act that allows agencies to apply other statutes when denying records requests –more than doubled between fiscal year 2012 and fiscal year 2019, meanwhile the number of FOIA requests processed increased by 32%. In July 2016, President Obama signed a law that codified the “presumption of openness” that he championed during his first year in office and later received mixed reviews on, as Government Executive reported in 2015. “The Office of Information Policy looks forward to working with agencies to ensure the presumption of openness is applied across the government.” “The attorney general’s new FOIA guidelines underscore the Justice Department’s commitment to government that is open, transparent and accountable to the people we serve,” said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, who also serves as the department’s Chief FOIA Officer, in a statement. The new guidelines came one day before “Freedom of Information Day” and during “National Sunshine Week,” which promotes open government.

On Tuesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a guidance memo on the Freedom of Information Act to heads of the executive departments and agencies. The Justice Department is directing federal agencies to promote openness in processing records requests.

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