Backlog of requests for public information growing

Many agencies have not kept pace with a growing number of requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act, causing the number of pending requests carried over from year to year to steadily increase, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

The review of 24 agencies' annual FOIA reports from 2002 to 2005 highlighted the importance of establishing plans to improve handling of information requests. Such plans are required under an executive order signed by President Bush in December 2005.

Median response times ranged from less than 10 days for some parts of agencies to more than 100 days for others, the report (GAO-07-411) said.

But recently, the rate of FOIA requests has flattened, the report noted. Except for the Social Security Administration, the request increase was only about 3 percent from 2004 to 2005 compared to 28 percent from 2002 to 2003.

GAO recommended that Congress require agencies to provide additional statistics in their annual reports, including a means to determine average governmentwide response times.

In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, Meredith Fuchs, general counsel of the National Security Archive at the George Washington University, which collects and publishes declassified documents, said agencies view people making FOIA requests as the enemy instead of "as the customer or as part of the team."

Fuchs said agencies' reports demonstrate that Bush's executive order is not enough to prompt changes, and that legislation is required. She cited the example of the Justice Department, which is the lead agency on implementation of the order, but has failed to meet 30 of its own FOIA performance improvement goals.

A Justice Department spokeswoman said the department would allow a letter from Melanie Ann Pustay, acting director of Justice's Office of Information and Privacy, to stand as its response to the report. In the letter, Pustay said the report accurately depicts the status of FOIA request processing.

Last month, the House overwhelmingly passed sweeping legislation to reform the FOIA system, despite the Bush administration's contention the bill would impose substantial administrative and financial burdens on agencies.

The House bill (H.R. 1309) was sponsored by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif. Similar legislation on the Senate side (S. 849) awaits action in the Judiciary Committee.