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Justice Delayed is Justice Denied

The Ten Oldest Pending FOIA Requests

The National Security Archive
Freedom of Information Act Audit

 
Press Release
Executive Summary
The Ten Oldest FOIA Requests in the Federal Government
Chart - Agency Response Times
Table - Oldest Outstanding FOIA Requests
Methodology
Findings Regarding The Ten Oldest FOIA Requests and FOIA Backlogs
Summary Discussion of Individual Agencies
Update on Phase One: The Ashcroft Memorandum
FOIA Audit Phase One: The Ashcroft Memo

 

 

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UNITED STATES NAVY (NAVY)
COMPONENTS WITH OUTSTANDING REQUESTS AS OLD AS 3 YEARS, BUT UNABLE TO DETERMINE AGENCY BACKLOG
Recordkeeping Issues - NAVY informed the Archive that it maintains a highly decentralized system. In the Archive's experience, NAVY is generally one of the more responsive FOIA offices, but it indicated that the agency maintains no central or consolidated database that lists all FOIA requests received by NAVY or at what stage they are in their processing. Accordingly, the original request was limited to the Navy Chief of Naval Operations. Requests were later submitted to the five NAVY components that receive the greatest number of FOIA requests.
Ten Oldest - The initial request to the Navy, as amended to be limited to the Navy Chief of Naval Operations has received no response. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command and U.S. Pacific Fleet reported no pending FOIA requests. Naval Sea Systems reported ten requests from May 25, 2000 to July 27, 2001. Naval Education and Training reported one request from July 25, 2003. Naval Air Systems reported ten requests from January 13, 2003 through June 12, 2003.
Workload Statistics - NAVY's reported statistics from 1998 through 2002 indicate that the agency has received a decreasing number of FOIA requests (down 10.15% from 23,066 in 1998 to 20,725 in 2002). The number processed each year also has decreased (down 17.38% from 24,895 processed in 1998 to 20,567 processed in 2002). NAVY's processing rate per year -- a comparison of the number of requests processed to the number received -- decreased from 107.93% in 1998 to 99.24% in 2002.
Backlog Statistics - NAVY's backlog of pending FOIA requests has increased (from 1054 FOIA requests pending at the end of 1998 to 1665 FOIA requests pending at the end of 2002). NAVY's backlog as a percentage of FOIA requests processed each year has increased from 4.23% in 1998 to 8.10% in 2002. Its backlog rate per year -- a comparison of the number of requests pending at the end of the year to the number received during that year -- has increased from 4.57% in 1998 to 8.03% in 2002.
Processing Time - While its median days to process simple requests has ranged from 10-19 days over the 1998-2002 period, the median days to process complex requests has ranged from 37-89 days over the 1998-2002 period. The median days that backlogged requests have been pending has ranged from 21-68 days over the 1998-2002 period. Expedited requests have a median processing time range of 2-12 days over the 1998-2002 time period.

 

TEN OLDEST REQUESTS

Naval Education Training

Navy NET Response Letter

Navy NET July 25, 2003 Letter

 

Naval Facilities Engineering Command

Navy NFEC Response Letter

 

Naval Sea Systems Command

Navy NSSC Response Letter

Navy NSSC May 25, 2000 Letter

Navy NSSC August 23, 2000 Letter

Navy NSSC October 26, 2000 Letter

Navy NSSC February 26, 2001 Letter

Navy NSSC July 9, 2001 Letter

Navy NSSC July 27, 2001 Letter

Navy NSSC August 6, 2001 Letter

Navy NSSC September 7, 2001 Letter

Navy NSSC September 11, 2001 Letter

Navy NSSC September 18, 2001 Letter

Navy NSSC October 10, 2001 Letter

 

U.S. Pacific Fleet

Navy U.S. Pacific Fleet Response Letter

 

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