Washington
DC, February 7, 2007 - The CIA's proposed
new rule on Freedom of Information Act processing fees is likely
to discourage FOIA requesters while imposing new administrative
burdens both on the Agency and the public, according to formal
comments filed with the CIA today by the National Security Archive
of George Washington University.
The Archive's general counsel, Meredith Fuchs, commented that,
"Significant time, money, and other resources were spent
by the CIA on fee disputes last year. One of those disputes
involved the CIA's refusal
to abide by a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals judicial decision
about the Archive's fee status. Given that the Agency recouped
only $4,732.80 in fees in FY 2006, those disputes served mainly
to delay and obstruct FOIA requests."
The
Archive recommended that the Agency change its
proposed rule to: (1) eliminate the unnecessary and improper
definitions of FOIA requester categories; (2) eliminate the
requirement that all requesters make open-ended, written fee
commitments because many FOIA requests can be processed without
the requester incurring any fees and the CIA proposal would
discourage requesters and add to the Agency's administrative
processing time; (3) eliminate the illegal provision mandating
prepayment of fees before the CIA will honor form or format
requests; (4) revise the proposed duplication fees provisions
so that requesters pay only those "direct costs" actually
incurred in the processing of the individual request, whether
for paper or electronic duplication; and (5) revise the public
interest fee waiver provisions to follow the letter and intent
of the FOIA to promote dissemination of information in the public
interest.
The Archive has had to sue the CIA twice over FOIA fee issues,
despite the D.C. Circuit's definitive 1989 ruling in the Archive's
favor. The most recent case, filed in 2006, covered 42 FOIA
requests that the CIA deemed not to be "newsworthy";
only after the Archive filed its legal complaint and a motion
for summary judgment in the U.S. District Court for the District
of Columbia did the CIA reverse course on the 42 requests, but
even then fell short of committing to abide by the judicial
precedents.
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