The FOIA Ombudsman

As we head into the July 4th weekend, it is a great time to think about the freedoms we enjoy as Americans. But July 4 th is more than a day that we celebrate our country’s birth – this year, it is also FOIA’s 45th birthday!   On July 4, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson [...]

On Tuesday June 21, OGIS presented another round of dispute resolution skills training to FOIA professionals and requesters, this time at the American Society of Access Professionals (ASAP) Training Series conference. While no two training sessions are exactly alike, Tuesday’s session was particularly notable for the interesting discussion about what FOIA professionals actually do. The [...]

How often have you heard that statement? When you heard it, did you believe it? In the OPEN Government Act of 2007 Congress baked customer service into FOIA by creating OGIS to help the FOIA community resolve disputes and to recommend improvements to the administration of FOIA. Congress also codified the role of FOIA Public [...]

As regular readers of this blog already know, OGIS was created when the 2007 OPEN Government Act amended the FOIA. However, the Act didn’t stop there — it also formalized the role of the FOIA Public Liaison (FPL). Specifically it says: FOIA Public Liaisons shall report to the agency Chief FOIA Officer and shall serve [...]

News that the Faster FOIA Act passed the Senate last week has all of us at OGIS thinking about changes we’d like to see made to make FOIA work better. Though the future of Faster FOIA is uncertain — it is headed to the House for consideration — it has contributed to the already considerable [...]