Street Foia101: Nuts, Bolts, And Loose Change

摘要

With so many FOIA requests to respond to and an expanding list of FOIA requirements to address, the Army relies upon FOIA Teams at installation and command levels to implement the Army FOIA program. To satisfy the new requirements of the OPEN Government Act of 2007 and in order to correctly apply FOIA exemptions to the current situation within DoD, FOIA Teams must stay up to date on changes to the FOIA and the way it is implemented. The OPEN Government Act imposed several new procedural requirements, chief among them involve attorney fees and litigation costs, time limits, and annual reporting requirements. And while the FOIA exemptions have not changed recently, the way they are applied has changed, most notably Exemptions 2 and 6. Undeniably, there are a lot of requirements imposed by the FOIA and meeting the requirements, particularly the response time requirement, is often difficult. Certainly, one person cannot do it. Fortunately, one person does not have to do it because although it probably does not really take an entire village, hopefully there is a FOIA Team, properly trained and supported, available to do the job.