summary of annual foia reports for fiscal year 2018
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Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018
Highlights of Key Government-wide FOIA Data
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
1
SUMMARY OF ANNUAL FOIA REPORTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2018
Every year, the Office of Information Policy (OIP) compiles a summary of the information contained in the Annual FOIA Reports that are prepared by each of the more than 100 federal agencies subject to the FOIA. As in past years, in addition to preparing this summary OIP has uploaded all of the data from agencies’ FY 2018 Annual FOIA Reports to FOIA.gov where it can easily be viewed online, compared with data from previous fiscal years, as well as across different agencies, and downloaded in an open (CSV) format. The purpose of this summary is to provide an overall picture of FOIA activities across the government.
Table of Contents SUMMARY OF ANNUAL FOIA REPORTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2018 ........................................ 1
FOIA REQUESTS ................................................................................................................................................ 2
Number of Requests Received ........................................................................................................ 2
Number of Requests Processed ..................................................................................................... 4
Disposition of Requests ....................................................................................................................... 6
Release Rate .................................................................................................................................................. 7
Use of Exemptions ................................................................................................................................... 8
Backlogged Requests .............................................................................................................................. 8
Requests for Expedited Processing ......................................................................................... 11
Average Processing Time for Simple Requests .............................................................. 12
Time to Process Complex Requests ......................................................................................... 13
CONSULTATIONS ON FOIA REQUESTS ............................................................................................... 14
Consultations Received, Processed, and Pending ........................................................ 14
ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS ...................................................................................................................... 15
Number of Administrative Appeals Received and Processed ............................. 15
Backlogged Administrative Appeals ....................................................................................... 18
Processing Time for Administrative Appeals .................................................................. 19
STAFFING LEVELS & COSTS ...................................................................................................................... 20
EXCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................................................................... 21
PROACTIVE DISCLOSURES ......................................................................................................................... 21
CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................................... 21
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
2
FOIA REQUESTS
Number of Requests Received
In FY 2018, the federal government overall received a record high 863,729 FOIA requests. This is a 5.6% increase of 45,458 requests from the previous records high of 818,271 requests received during FY 2017.
597,415
644,165 651,254
704,394 714,231 713,168
788,769818,271
863,729
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
700,000
800,000
900,000
FiscalYear 2010
FiscalYear 2011
FiscalYear 2012
FiscalYear 2013
FiscalYear 2014
FiscalYear 2015
FiscalYear 2016
FiscalYear 2017
FiscalYear 2018
Total Number of Requests Received
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
3
48
14 13 15 13 15
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
NU
MB
ER
OF
AG
EN
CIE
S
NUMBER OF REQUESTS RECEIVED
Distribution of Requests Received
DHS395,751
46%
DOJ96,875
11%
DOD57,032
7%
NARA52,850
6%
USDA36,547
4%
Everyone Else224,674
26%
5 AGENCIES RECEIVE OVER 70% OF ALL FOIA REQUESTS
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
4
Number of Requests Processed Collectively, the government overall processed 830,060 requests in FY 2018, which is an increase of 0.83% from the prvieous record-high number of requests processed in FY 2017. This figure is the highest number of FOIA requests ever processed.
600,849631,424
665,924 678,391647,142
769,903 759,842
823,222 830,060
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
700,000
800,000
900,000
FiscalYear 2010
FiscalYear 2011
FiscalYear 2012
FiscalYear 2013
FiscalYear 2014
FiscalYear 2015
FiscalYear 2016
FiscalYear 2017
FiscalYear 2018
Total Number of Requests Processed
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
5
DHS374,945
45%
DOJ91,383
11%
DOD54,323
7%
NARA53,101
6%
USDA35,482
4%
Everyone Else220,826
27%
5 AGENCIES PROCESSED OVER 70% OF FOIA REQUESTS
47
1510
1812
16
05
101520253035404550
NU
MB
ER
OF
AG
EN
CIE
S
NUMBER OF REQUESTS PROCESSED
Distribution of Requests Processed
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
6
Disposition of Requests Of the 830,060 requests processed by agencies, 70% (581,416) were closed after being substantively processed, with decisions made to release or withhold information based upon the FOIA’s exemptions. Of the remaining requests processed by agencies during FY 2018, 30% (248,644) were closed for procedural or administrative reasons.
*Smallest box in bottom right hand corner is “Fee-Related Reasons” – 0.4%
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
7
Release Rate
For FY 2018, the government overall had a release rate of 93.8%, which marks the tenth year in a row that the number of responses to FOIA requests where agencies provided a release of information either in full or in part exceeded 91% of the requests processed for a disclosure determination.
Released in Full (38.3%)222,989
Released in Part (55.5%)322,520
Denied in Full Based on FOIA
Exemptions (6.2%)35,909
RELEASE RATE
Total Released in Full or in Part – 93.8%
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
8
Use of Exemptions
The FOIA includes nine exemptions from disclosure that protect important interests such as national security, personal privacy, and certain law enforcement interests. As has been the case for many years, the FOIA’s privacy exemptions, Exemption 6 (28.89%) and 7(C) (27.24%), were the most cited FOIA exemptions in FY 2018. Over half of the exemptions cited by agencies were those two exemptions. Exemption 7(E) (24.3%), which protects law enforcement techniques, procedures, and guidelines, was the third most used exemption.
Total Exemption Usage
Ex. 6
28.89%
Ex. 5
7.22%
Ex. 7C
27.24 %
Ex. 7E
24.30%
Ex. 3
7.98%
Ex. 9 0.01%
Ex. 8 0.02%
Ex. 7B 0.07%
Ex. 2 0.18%
Ex. 7F 0.37%
Ex. 1 0.49%
Ex. 7D 0.77%
Ex. 7A 1.10%
Ex. 4 1.29%
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
9
Backlogged Requests The total number of backlogged requests across the government at the end of FY 2018 was 130,718, which is a 17.4% increase from the number of backlogged requests reported at the end of FY 2017.1
69,526
83,490
71,790
95,564
159,741
102,828
115,080 111,344
130,718
10,000
30,000
50,000
70,000
90,000
110,000
130,000
150,000
170,000
FiscalYear 2010
FiscalYear 2011
FiscalYear 2012
FiscalYear 2013
FiscalYear 2014
FiscalYear 2015
FiscalYear 2016
FiscalYear 2017
FiscalYear 2018
Number of Backlogged Requests
1 A request is reported as “backlogged” when it has been pending at an agency longer than the statutory time period of twenty working-days, or if unusual circumstances are present, up to thirty working-days.
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
10
DHS53,971
41%
DOJ17,41113%
DOD11,391
9%
State10,400
8%
HHS6,306
5%
VA4,659
4%
Interior3,191
2%
Everyone Else23,389
18%
7 AGENCIES ACCOUNT FOR OVER 82% OF BACKLOGGED REQUESTS
86
1814
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Less than 100 BackloggedRequests
100 to 999 BackloggedRequests
1,000+ Backlogged Requests
Nu
mb
er o
f A
gen
cies
Distribution of Backlogged Requests
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
11
Requests for Expedited Processing
In FY 2018, the government overall made a decision to grant or deny 15,403 requests for expedited processing. This is an almost 11% increase from the total number of expedited processing determinations made during FY 2017 (13,881), and in the past three years, the number of requests for expedited processing has doubled over from the 7,353 in FY 2015. Across the government, agencies averaged 7.55 days to adjudicate requests for expedited processing. In total, agencies adjudicated 73.4% (11,306) of all requests for expedited processing made during FY 2018 within ten calendar days.
8.81
12.03
11.53
16.49
10.63
7.848.31 7.55
5
7
9
11
13
15
17
19
FY 2011 FY 2012 FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018
Average Time to Adjudicate Requests for Expedited Processing (in days)
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
12
Average Processing Time for Simple Requests The average processing time for simple track requests for agencies that reported data in this field in their FY 2018 Annual FOIA Report was 25.52 days.2 This is a slight decrease of over two days from the average of 27.97 days that was reported in FY 2017. Seventy-four agencies, including six departments – Education, HHS, Interior, Treasury, USDA, and VA -- reported processing their simple track requests within an average of twenty days or less. Sixteen agencies, including DHS, DOD, DOJ, and DOL reported processing these requests between an average of 21.75 days and 30.77 days.
23.65
22.66
21.44
20.51
23
28.04
27.96
25.52
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
FY 2011 FY 2012 FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018
Average Processing Time for Simple Track Requests (in days)
2 For purposes of the Annual FOIA Report, agencies were instructed to break down their response times by three processing tracks: Simple, Complex and Expedited. Agencies that did not have multi-track processing, reported all of their non-expedited requests as either simple or complex, whichever best characterized the majority of the requests they processed that year. Similarly, agencies that had more than three tracks (including the expedited track), categorized their non-expedited requests as either simple or complex, whichever best characterized the majority of the requests they processed that year.
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
13
Time to Process Complex Requests Complex requests typically seek a high volume of material or require additional steps to process such as the need to search for records in multiple locations. Complex requests often take longer to process than more targeted “simple” requests.
29.45%
12.42%
7.51%
3.14%4.56%
29.40%
3.37%1.59% 0.94% 0.71%
2.31% 1.27%3.34%
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
35.00%
Number of Days to Process
Complex Request Processing Times
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
14
CONSULTATIONS ON FOIA REQUESTS
Consultations Received, Processed, and Pending
During FY 2018, sixty-one agencies received documents on consultation from another agency. Agencies in receipt of such consultations are asked to provide their views on the disclosablity of records that are being processed by another agency. A total of 5,508 consultations were received by agencies in FY 2018.
DOD1,81832%
DOJ96217%
CIA75213%
DHS4838%
Everyone Else1,73430%
4 AGENCIES ACCOUNT FOR NEARLY 70% OF ALL CONSULTATIONS PROCESSED
1,692 1,8181,2321,014 962
278650 752 511505 483 349
5,508 5,749
2,883
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
Consultations Received Consultations Processed Consultations Pending
Consultations Received, Processed, and Pending
DOD DOJ CIA DHS Total for All Agencies
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
15
ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS
Number of Administrative Appeals Received and Processed
In FY 2018, the government overall received 15,599 appeals, which is 7.2% increase from the 14,548 appeals received in FY 2017. Forty-six agencies received no appeals during the fiscal year.
The government overall processed 15,163 appeals during FY 2017, which is a 3% increase from the 14,713 processed during FY 2017 and the fourth consecutive year that over 14,000 appeals have been processed. The three agencies that received the most appeals also processed the most appeals: DHS (5,327), DOJ (4,022), and DOD (1,147). These three agencies together processed 69.2% of the total number of appeals processed by the entire government in FY 2018.
Adminstrative Appeals
FiscalYear2010
FiscalYear2011
FiscalYear2012
FiscalYear2013
FiscalYear2014
FiscalYear2015
FiscalYear2016
FiscalYear2017
FiscalYear2018
Received 10,948 10,705 11,899 12,028 12,754 14,639 15,095 14,548 15,599Processed 13,973 10,684 11,789 12,042 11,957 14,274 14,800 14,713 15,163
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
16
DHS5,38635%
DOJ4,01826%
DOD1,146
7%
SEC6214%
Everyone Else4,42828%
4 AGENCIES RECEIVED 72% OF FOIA APPEALS
DHS5,32735%
DOJ4,02226%
DOD1,1478%
SEC6374%
Everyone Else4,03027%
4 AGENCIES PROCESSED OVER 73% OF FOIA APPEALS
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
17
101
134
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
99-0 499-100 5,500-500
NU
MB
ER
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AG
EN
CIE
S
NUMBER OF APPEALS PROCESSED
Distribution of Appeals Processed
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
18
Backlogged Administrative Appeals
The overall backlog of administrative appeals at the end of FY 2018 was 4,745.
3,534
3,011 3,119 3,116
3,699
4,1974,449
4,301
4,745
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
4,500
5,000
FiscalYear 2010
FiscalYear 2011
FiscalYear 2012
FiscalYear 2013
FiscalYear 2014
FiscalYear 2015
FiscalYear 2016
FiscalYear 2017
FiscalYear 2018
Number of Backlogged Administrative Appeals
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
19
Eighty of the one-hundred and eighteen agencies subject to the FOIA closed FY 2018 with no pending appeals in their backlog.
Processing Time for Administrative Appeals
The average processing time for adjudicating appeals for those agencies that reported data in this field of their FY 2018 Annual FOIA Report is 86.03 days. This is a decrease of over 7.67 days from the average of 93.7 days reported in FY 2017. The average processing time for the agencies that processed the most appeals were 27.18 days (DHS), 49.82 days (DOJ), and 177.21 days (DOD).
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
20
STAFFING LEVELS & COSTS During FY 2018, 4,904.29 “full-time FOIA staff” were devoted to the administration of the FOIA throughout the government. 3 The total estimated cost of all FOIA related activities across the government was $545,510,147.08. Over 92% ($504,717,752.55) of the total costs was attributed to the processing of requests and appeals by agencies. Roughly 7.5% was reported to have been spent on litigation-related activities. By the end of the fiscal year, agencies reported collecting a total of $2,981,312.77 in FOIA fees. The FOIA fees collected in FY 2019 amounts to less than 1% of the total costs related to the government’s FOIA activities.
394.2 412.7 405.5 419.6 433.8 448.9478.5 480.3 504.7
22.223.4 24.2
27.228.0
31.336.2 40.7
40.8
0
100
200
300
400
500
Fiscal Year2010
Fiscal Year2011
Fiscal Year2012
Fiscal Year2013
Fiscal Year2014
Fiscal Year2015
Fiscal Year2016
Fiscal Year2017
Fiscal Year2018
Approximate Cost of All FOIA Related Activities (in millions of dollars)
Processing Costs Litigation-Related Costs
3 This includes both full-time FOIA professionals and the cumulative percentages of the time spent on FOIA by personnel who work on FOIA as a part of their duties.
Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year 2018 Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice
21
EXCLUSIONS During FY 2018, exclusions were invoked by only four agencies, DOJ (330), SEC (20), DHS (1), and NRC (1). When compared to the 581,418requests reviewed by the government this past fiscal year for exemption applicability, exclusions were used in response to 0.06% of requests processed for disclosure.
PROACTIVE DISCLOSURES Approximately 28,329,795 records that qualified as subsection (a)(2) records were posted online during FY 2018. About 99% (28,174,808) of these records were made available by agency program offices outside of the FOIA office. NARA (17,223,575) reported the highest number of proactive disclosures in this category. The FOIA offices across the government reported posting 1,549,897 subsection (a)(2) records online. Among the FOIA offices, DOT (89,714) reported posting the highest number of proactive disclosures.
CONCLUSION
The government overall continued to receive more requests setting a new record of 863,729 incoming requests. In response, the government overall processed more requests than it did in the prior year. Notably, the 830,060 requests processed in Fiscal Year 2018 is also more than the number of requests agencies received in the prior fiscal year. In processing these requests, the government continued to maintain a high release rate of over 91% for the tenth year in a row. Agencies improved processing times for simple track requests (25.52 days) and were also able to maintain a low average response time to adjudicate requests for expedited processing at 7.55 days. With these achievements in mind, there is work to be done to make further improvements in FY 2019. Agencies should continue to focus on ensuring that their simple track requests are responded to within an average of twenty working days. Further, agencies with high backlogs of FOIA requests should continue their efforts to reduce those backlogs. Agencies should also continue to focus on reducing the age of their backlogs by closing the ten oldest pending requests and consultations that were reported in their FY 2018 Annual FOIA Reports.
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