II. HOW TO MAKE A FOIA REQUEST.
For basic information on how to make a FOIA request, visit our Website at www.usdoj.gov/oip/index.html.
A. Names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all individual agency components and offices that receive FOIA requests
Visit our Website at www.usdoj.gov/oip/04_4.html
B. Brief Description of Agency's Response-Time Ranges (On a Component-by-Component Basis).
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL - The median response time for the Office of the Attorney General to respond to requests which have been granted expedited processing is 2 days; the median response time for "simple" requests, which do not involve voluminous records or require lengthy consultations, is 13 days; and the median response time for "complex" requests, which involve voluminous records or require lengthy or numerous consultations with Department components and other government agencies, is 71 days. Records in the "complex" category usually contain sensitive law enforcement or national security information.
OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL - The median response time for the Office of the Deputy Attorney General to respond to requests which have been granted expedited processing is 10 days; the median response time for "simple" requests, which do not involve voluminous records or require lengthy consultations, is 13 days; and the median response time for "complex" requests, which involve voluminous records or require lengthy or numerous consultations with Department components and other government agencies, is 88 days. Records in the "complex" category usually contain sensitive law enforcement or national security information.
OFFICE OF THE ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY GENERAL - The median response time for the Office of the Associate Attorney General to respond to requests which have been granted expedited processing is 14 days; the median response time for "simple" requests, which do not involve voluminous records or require lengthy consultations, is 16 days; and the median response time for "complex" requests, which involve voluminous records or require lengthy or numerous consultations with Department components and other government agencies, is 79 days. Records in the "complex" category usually contain sensitive law enforcement or national security information.
OFFICE OF THE SOLICITOR GENERAL - Response time ranged from 1 day to several months (in cases where classified records were referred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for declassification).
OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL - Response time ranges from 1 to 20 days.
OFFICE OF POLICY DEVELOPMENT - The median response time for the Office of Policy Development to respond to requests which have been granted expedited processing is 0 days; the median response time for "simple" requests, which do not involve voluminous records or require lengthy consultations, is 26 days; and the median response time for "complex" requests, which involve voluminous records or require lengthy or numerous consultations with Department components and other federal entities, is 46 days.
OFFICE OF LEGAL COUNSEL - The Office of Legal Counsel usually responds to FOIA requests within the 20 days allowed.
OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS - The median response time for the Office of Public Affairs to respond to requests which have been granted expedited processing is 11 days; the median response time for "simple" requests, which do not involve voluminous records or require lengthy consultations, is 28 days; and the median response time for "complex" requests, which involve voluminous records or require lengthy or numerous consultations with Department components and other entities, is 94 days.
OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND PRIVACY - The median response time for the Office of Information and Privacy to respond to requests which have been granted expedited processing is 1 day; the median response time for "simple" requests, which do not involve voluminous records or require lengthy consultations, is 5 days; and the median response time for "complex" requests, which involve voluminous records or require lengthy or numerous consultations with Department components and other entities, is 53 days.
OFFICE OF INTELLIGENCE POLICY AND REVIEW - As a general matter, the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR) responds to access requests within the statutory time limits. In rare cases that involve processing of voluminous records, OIPR may take up to 40 days to respond.
INTERPOL-UNITED STATES NATIONAL CENTRAL BUREAU - The response time for Interpol has been greatly reduced by the installation of the tracking system established by our General Counsel Office upon the arrival of the new FOIA Specialist in July of 1998. The times range from forty-two (42) days for a complex request, and 9 days for a simple request.
OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY - The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) received 110 Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act (FOIA/PA) requests during Fiscal Year (FY) 1998 and had thirteen (13) requests pending from FY 1997. The total number of requests eligible for processing in FY 1998 was 123. Out of that number, OPR completed and responded to 110 FOIA/PA requests, or 89.4%. Thirteen (13), or 10.6%, of the requests received remained pending at the end of the FY on September 30, 1998.
The response time by OPR for processing the 110 FOIA/PA requests ranges from a low of four (4) days to a high of 215 days. OPR responded to eight (8) requests, or 7.3%, within seven (7) days of receipt. An additional 20 requests, or 18.2%, were processed between 8-14 days. A total of 51 requests, or 46.4% of all requests, were processed by OPR within the statutory time limit of 20 days. From 21 to 40 days, OPR responded to an additional 29 requests, or 26.4%, for a total of 72.3% of all cases completed. Within 60 days of receipt, OPR responded to 96 requests, or 87.30%, of the total cases processed. Only fourteen (14) requests, or 12.7%, took more than 60 days to process.
OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS - The median response time for the Office of Legislative Affairs to respond to requests which have been granted expedited processing is 0 days; the median response time for "simple" requests, which do not involve voluminous records or require lengthy consultations, is 30 days; and the median response time for "complex" requests, which involve voluminous records or require lengthy or numerous consultations with Department components and other entities, is 62 days.
PARDON ATTORNEY - This component's response times vary from one day for requests for records the office does not possess to 40 days or more for complex requests which present novel issues and require consultation with other agencies.
OFFICE OF COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING SERVICES - The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) requires only that a FOIA request be submitted in writing, either handwritten or typed, and may be submitted by mail or fax. Most FOIA responses are completed within 15 days from the date of receipt in the COPS office.
EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR U.S. ATTORNEYS - The Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys' most frequent types of FOIA and Privacy Act requests range from fairly simple routine matters which may take less than a week to process to complex requests than can take up to nine months or more.
EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR U.S. TRUSTEES - The United States Trustee Program has 94 field offices nationwide. All FOIA requests are processed by the Office of General Counsel, Executive Office for U.S. Trustees (EOUST) in Washington, D.C. Most FOIA requests pertain to bankruptcy case administration information in one of the field offices. When the responsive documents are located in the field and forwarded to the EOUST for processing, the response time is approximately one month. When the requested information is located in the EOUST, the response time is approximately two weeks. It is important to note that many potential requesters (approximately 157) during fiscal year 1998 were referred to the U.S. Trustee FOIA website where they received instant access to the requested information.
OFFICE OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS - The median response time for the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs to respond to requests which have been granted expedited processing is 0 days; the median response time for "simple" requests, which do not involve voluminous records or require lengthy consultations, is 34 days; and the median response time for "complex" requests, which involve voluminous records or require lengthy or numerous consultations with Department components and other entities, is 91 days.
ANTITRUST DIVISION - The Antitrust Division responded to 70 percent of its FOIA requests within 20 days. Other requests requiring search, retrieval, consultation, and/or review of large volume of records took months to process.
CIVIL DIVISION - Processing of requests to the Civil Division are generally completed within the statutory 20 day time period. Many requests for readily available records are processed more quickly while requests for access to large volumes or to closed files stored in regional records centers may exceed the 20 day time period.
CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION - As detailed in this report, 81% of the Civil Rights Division's 1061 FOI/PA requests per year are completed in a median time of less than 20 days. The remaining 19% are complex requests involving requests for as many as 250,000 pages of documents, and requests requiring special consultation, or specialized review for declassification or to protect the secrecy of the grand jury process. For these 19% of the 1061 FOI/PA requests, the median time for processing is 292 days.
CRIMINAL DIVISION - Over the past five (5) years, the Criminal Division has received an average of 1,500 cases per year and closed an average of 1,700 cases a year. Approximately 75% of the cases received are closed out within 30 days (if 120 cases are received in a month, the Criminal Division closes out approximately 90 in less than 30 days). The median time for cases not closed in 30 days is approximately one (1) year.
ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION - For requests seeking discrete records or a list of cases, the response time is usually several weeks. For requests seeking a large volume of records, e.g., all records on the Jones Superfund site, the response time is close to several months.
JUSTICE MANAGEMENT DIVISION - A response is usually done within a 20-day time frame (exception is request for contracts which requires that the contractor be notified).
TAX DIVISION - The Tax Division will usually respond to each perfected FOIA responses (i.e., a FOIA request that meets all applicable regulatory requirements) for which no files are found within one (1) to two (2) days after receipt of the request. It will acknowledge receipt of a perfected FOIA request for which files are located within the same time frame or, if the request is not perfected, it will respond with reason(s) why the request cannot yet be considered.
For each perfected request for which files are found, the Tax Division will usually respond to those involving a small number of documents in less than 30 days from the date such request is received. If large numbers of documents are located, the Tax Division's response time currently ranges from one (1) to five (5) months from the date a perfected request is received. The same response time ranges apply to referrals from other DOJ components or other agencies.
EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR IMMIGRATION REVIEW - The Executive Office for Immigration Review has maintained a no backlog from 6/97 to 10/98. All responses have been processed within the statutory required time frame.
DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION - For the 1998 fiscal year, the Drug Enforcement Administration took a median time of 11 days to process a case.
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION - The average number of days from receipt of a request until the request is closed is 441. The average number of days for processing of responsive material is 649. (For requests received by Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters only. Information not available for field office.)
IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE - The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is decentralized, in that district offices receive, process, and disseminate information requested. INS has a multi-track system - simple (fast track) and complex for processing requests.
Simple requests are basically for manuals, policy memorandums, and genealogy. It takes anywhere from 5 to 20 days to process these requests. The varying time frames are due to INS requiring other operating units and entities (Federal Records Center) to retrieve the information and/or record.
Complex requests consist of alien files, research data, contracts, and personnel related files. These requests are processed anywhere from 21 to 90 days. Again the time frames vary because only some of the field offices have direct access to the alien file. However, the major reasons for the processing delay are: 1) responsive records must be obtained from another operating unit; 2) a reduction in available staff due to vacant positions (especially in Headquarters); 3) the implementation of a new processing tool (i.e., the Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act Information Processing System - FIPS); and 4) an increase in the new receipts.
OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS - The response time ranges from one (1) day for a simple request (such as frequently requested records) to over the statutorily allotted 20 days in the case of complex contract proposals.
BUREAU OF PRISONS - By reducing the backlogged requests by 85% from 404 to 59 at the end of the fiscal year, the Bureau of Prisons has significantly improved the median response times for new requests. The median response time for the entire fiscal year (18 days for simple requests; 50 days for more complex requests) is misleading because of the greater backlog numbers at the beginning of the fiscal year. By the end of the fiscal year, there were only 278 requests pending, with a median number of 15 days, 5 less than the statutory requirement.
U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE - Requests are generally acknowledged within two (2) days of receipt. During Fiscal Year 1998, final responses were issued within an average of 14 days. The completion time for complex requests, or those requiring consultation with other agencies, numerous locations to search for records, multiple subjects, or business submitter notifications exceeded 20 days.
COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE - FOIA/PA requests are generally responded to within 10 days after receipt.
U.S. PAROLE COMMISSION - During the past fiscal year, the U.S. Parole Commission has implemented a tracking system to put simple requests on a faster track than more complex requests. Simple requests are usually responded to in 10-15 days. Complex requests are responded to within 20-40 days. (The Commission only implemented the system during the second portion of the fiscal year.)
FOREIGN CLAIMS SETTLEMENT COMMISSION - The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission reviews very few FOIA requests - less than 5 per month. Requests are generally answered within 10 days from the date of receipt, and virtually always within 20 days of receipt.
NATIONAL DRUG INTELLIGENCE CENTER - The National Drug Intelligence Center does not have a FOIA backlog and usually responds to requests within the 20 days provided under the law. Each year NDIC receives an average of five FOIA requests.
C. Brief Description Why Requests are Not Granted.
The most frequent reason that requests are not granted is that no records responsive to the request exist.
The primary reasons for not granting requests for which records are located is that disclosure would result in an unwarranted or clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or that the records were protected by the deliberative process or attorney work-product privilege.
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