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About the Office
Color Guard presents the Colors at the Department’s Sunshine Week event on March 15, 2010, with Attorney General Eric Holder, Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli and OIP Director Melanie Pustay in the background.

The Office of Information Policy (OIP) is responsible for encouraging agency compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and for ensuring that the President’s FOIA Memorandum and the Attorney General's FOIA Guidelines are fully implemented across the government.  OIP develops and issues policy guidance to all agencies on proper implementation of the FOIA. 

OIP also publishes the United States Department of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act, which is a comprehensive legal treatise addressing all aspects of the FOIA.  OIP provides individualized guidance to agencies on questions relating to the application of the FOIA, regularly conducts training programs for FOIA personnel across the government, including specialized agency programs, and provides general advice to the public on use of the FOIA. 

In addition to its policy functions, OIP oversees agency compliance with the FOIA.  All agencies are required by law to report to the Department of Justice on their FOIA compliance through submission of Annual FOIA Reports and Chief FOIA Officer Reports.  OIP develops guidelines for those reports, issues guidance and provides training to agencies to help them complete the reports, and reviews and compiles summaries of both agency Annual FOIA Reports and Chief FOIA Officer Reports. 

OIP also manages the Department of Justice's obligations under the FOIA.  This includes adjudicating administrative appeals from denials of access to records made by Department components under the FOIA or the Privacy Act of 1974; handling initial requests for records of the Offices of the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General and Associate Attorney General, as well as other Senior Management Offices; providing staff support for the Department Review Committee, which reviews Department of Justice records containing classified information; and handling the defense of certain FOIA matters in litigation.

Training and Outreach
Next Events
February 26-27, 2013
March 20, 2013
For a full list of upcoming events, visit our Key Dates page.
To access DOJ documents that are posted online by OIP, please visit the FOIA Library.
For government-wide FOIA information including how to make a FOIA request to other federal agencies, please visit FOIA.GOV.
General Information Office of Information Policy
 
Leadership
Melanie Ann Pustay
Director
Contact
Office of Information Policy
(202) 514 - FOIA (3642)
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