Constitutional Law

House panel seeks details of 5 years of FOI requests

By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The new Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is demanding details of every request for federal records made by citizens, journalists, companies and others during the last five years under the Freedom of Information Act.

It?s part of a broad congressional inquiry into President Barack Obama?s promises to improve government transparency.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said the committee is seeking the documents — expected to exceed tens of thousands of pages — to make sure that ?all federal agencies respond in a timely, substantive and non-discriminatory manner? to requests for records under the information law.

Issa sent the letter to 180 federal offices across the government, including the departments of defense, education, justice, commerce, state and transportation, along with the CIA, EPA, NASA and others. Issa set a deadline to receive the materials by Feb. 15.

Some federal agencies receive tens of thousands of information requests each year. The Defense Department last year received 73,572 such requests, and the Justice Department received 63,682.

The committee wants lists that the government offices have maintained during the previous five years with the names of people who sought federal records, dates of their requests, descriptions of what they asked to receive and whether they ever received anything.

In cases where people did not receive the records they wanted without the government justifying the decision, Issa asked for copies of all letters or e-mails between government workers and the people who sought the documents. By going back five years, the lists will cover part of the Bush administration and the first years of Obama?s presidency.

The lists of people who ask for records and details about what they sought under the Freedom of Information Act are generally available publicly, and many are published by federal agencies online.

Earlier this month, Issa?s committee asked the Homeland Security Department to provide documents about an agency policy that required political appointees to review many Freedom of Information Act requests.

The Associated Press reported in July that for at least a year, the department had sidetracked hundreds of requests for federal records to top political advisers to the department?s secretary, Janet Napolitano. The political appointees wanted information about those requesting the materials, and in some cases the release of documents considered politically sensitive was delayed, according to numerous e-mails that were obtained by the AP.

The committee?s previous request for the Homeland Security Department to turn over its FOIA-related records set a deadline of tomorrow for those documents.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on January 27, 2011 (boomark / email).