FOIA News: Update on missing annual reports

Technical difficulties with commercial off-the-shelf software have delayed the filing of annual FOIA reports from multiple agencies, according to a government source familiar with the situation.

FOIA News: The annual report deadline that wasn't

On October 2, 2024, the Department of Justice announced that agencies would be required to publish their fiscal year 2024 annual FOIA reports on their websites no later than March 1, 2025. As I write this post at 4:15pm on March 4, 2025, however, DOJ and several other agencies that receive voluminous FOIA requests, including DHS, NARA, and Veterans Affairs, have not posted their reports. Nor has the government’s central FOIA website, FOIA.gov, been updated to include annual FY 2024 data. Is this a glitch in the Matrix or something else? Stay tuned.

Monthly Roundup: Feb. 2025

Below is a summary of the notable FOIA court decisions and news from last month, as well as a look ahead to FOIA events in March.

Court decisions

We identified and posted 24 decisions in the month of February. Of note, the D.C. Circuit concluded in McWatters v. ATF that the government properly relied on Exemption 7(C) to withhold portions of an audio recording capturing the sounds of a nightclub fire in which 100 people died. In reaching its decision, the court credited ATF’s explanation that disclosure of the recording could harm the privacy interests of the living members of the deceased and rejected plaintiff’s main argument that no sounds could be traced to any identifiable person. And in Energy & Policy Inst. v. Tenn. Valley Auth. (E.D. Tenn.), the district court found that plaintiff was ineligible for attorney’s fees and costs even though the agency withdrew its Exemption 4 withholdings after litigation started. In so ruling, the court accepted the government’s argument that a business submitter, not the agency, changed its position on the confidential nature of the withheld records.

Top news

• FOIA personnel did not escape the layoffs initiated in February by the Department of Government Efficiency.

• Speaking of DOGE, the DOJ noted in litigation that DOGE’s records are not subject to FOIA.

• Earlier in the month, a Senate Democrat introduced a bill that would extend FOIA to DOGE.

• Many agencies posted their FY 2024 annual reports in February, with notable exceptions including DHS, DOJ, NARA, Veteran Affairs, Energy, and Treasury.

March calendar

Mar. 1: Deadline for agencies to post FY 2024 annual reports

Mar. 6: FOIA Advisory Committee meeting.

Mar. 16: Sunshine Week begins

Mar. 17: DOJ Sunshine Week event; agencies must post Chief FOIA Officer Reports on their websites.

Mar. 19: NARA Sunshine Week event.

Mar. 20: Sunshine Fest conference, Washington DC.

Mar. 22: Sunshine Fest 2025, Chicago, IL. Last day of Sunshine Week.

Court opinion issued Mar. 3, 2025

Jensen v. SEC (D.D.C.) -- finding that SEC performed reasonable search for contract agreements and agency forms filed for two CUSIP numbers, which pro se plaintiff apparently hoped would “expose an alleged conspiracy, orchestrated by his sentencing court, to generate profit from the bonds associated with his criminal proceedings.”

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2025 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2024 and from 2015 to 2023.

Court opinions issued Feb. 27-28, 2025

Feb. 28, 2025

United States v. Alexander (5th Cir.) (unpublished) -- vacating lower court’s decision denying plaintiff-appellee’s request for grand jury records pertaining to his criminal case, because FOIA does not apply to federal courts and therefore the district court lacked jurisdiction to entertain plaintiff’s FOIA claim.

Puzey v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- in case concerning pro se inmate’s criminal case records, determining that: (1) DEA, FBI, EOUSA, and ATF performed adequate searches, an issue plaintiff did not dispute; (2) plaintiff did not meaningfully dispute EOUSA’s withholdings under Exemptions 3 and 5; (3) FBI and EOUSA properly withheld the names of agency employees, third parties, and state and law enforcement pursuant to Exemptions 6 and 7(C); (4) government properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 7(D), 7(E), and 7(F), rejecting plaintiff’s public interest arguments as irrelevant; and (5) plaintiff conceded government’s foreseeable harm and segregability requirements.

Biggins v. USPS (D.N.J.) (unpublished) -- dismissing claim because plaintiff failed to send his request to a designated request center, he failed to label his request per agency regulations, and he improperly asked for information instead of records.

Feb. 27, 2025

Louise Trauma Ctr. v. ICE (D.D.C.) -- concluding that ICE did not sufficiently explain its search methodology for requested training material; that in camera review of agency’s Exemption 5 redactions was warranted; and that plaintiff’s request concerning agency’s information processing system was not reasonably described.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2025 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2024 and from 2015 to 2023.

Court opinions issued Feb. 25-26, 2025

February 26, 2025

Leopold v. Dep’t of State (D.D.C.) — deciding that: (1) agency improperly relied on the deliberative process privilege’s consultant corollary doctrine to withhold its communications with pending nominees to Senate-confirmed positions, because a nominee has a self-interested, independent stake in the confirmation process; (2) agency properly withheld talking points and many other—but not all— records under the deliberative process privilege; and (3) agency met the foreseeable harm and segregability requirements.

February 25, 2025

Transgender Law Ctr. v. ICE (D.D.C.) — in case concerning agency’s treatment of transgender detainees, concluding that: (1) ICE’s search was deficient because the agency neglected to clearly show that it searched the email accounts of two relevant employees, it unreasonably omitted one search term, and it unreasonably used another search term only in combination with other words; and (2) ICE failed to properly support its withholdings under Exemption 5’s attorney-client and deliberative process privileges, including whether foreseeable harm would result from disclosure; (3) ICE did not show how the records withheld under Exemptions 7(C) and 7(E) met the law enforcement threshold; (4) ICE improperly relied on Exemption 6 to withhold agency email domain addresses, to categorically withhold the names of “lower-level” agency employees and third parties, and to withhold name of a training video narrator.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2025 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2024 and from 2015 to 2023.

Jobs, jobs, jobs: Weekly report Mar. 3, 2025

The 90-day hiring freeze imposed by the White House on January 20, 2025, has significantly reduced the number of fillable government FOIA positions. Below are vacancies that appear to be exempt from the freeze.

Att’y-Advisor, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./USCG, GS 13-14, Wash., DC, closes 3/3/25 (public).

Records & Info. Mgmt. Specialist, Dep't of Justice, OSG, GS 13, Wash., DC, closes 3/10/25 (non-public).

Att’y-Advisor, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./OGC, GS 14-15, Wash., DC, closes 3/12/25 (public).

Att’y-Advisor, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./OGC, GS 13-15, Wash., DC, closes 3/12/25 (public).

FOIA News: FOIA doesn’t apply to DOGE, notes DOJ

Trump Admin Argues DOGE Is Exempt From Records Requests in FOIA Lawsuit

Elon Musk promised "maximum transparency," but that apparently doesn't include Freedom of Information requests to DOGE.

By C.J. Ciaramella, Reason, Feb. 28, 2025

In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, the Trump administration is arguing that its much-hyped Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is exempt from public records requests.

Justice Department lawyers stated in a court filing Thursday that DOGE is no longer subject to FOIA requests after President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January moving DOGE, formerly U.S. Digital Services (USDS), out of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). OMB is subject to the public record law, unlike most of the offices and agencies within the Executive Office of the President.

"After January 20, 2025, USDS moved out of OMB and became a free-standing component of [the Executive Office of the President] that reports to the White House Chief of Staff," the government's motion stated in a footnote. "As a result, USDS is not subject to FOIA.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Transportation Dep't posts annual report

The Department of Transportation has published its annual FOIA report for fiscal year 2024. Below is a summary of the key statistics:

• 18,345 requests received, a 7 percent increase from FY 2023 (17,136).

• 16,080 requests processed, a 2.2 percent decrease from FY 2023 (16,458).

• 8,048 backlogged requests, a 36 percent increase from the end of FY 2023 (5,913).

• 166 appeals received, more than twice as many as it received in FY 2023 (78).

• 156 appeals processed, exactly twice as many as it processed in FY 2023 (78).

• 226 backlogged appeals, three fewer (229) from the end of FY 2023.

• Average responses time for processed perfected requests was 76.1 days for simple requests and 268.5 days for complex requests. NHTSA had the slowest response times of all components: 127.5 average days for simple requests and 552.1 average days for complex requests.

• $17.2 million in total processing and litigation-related costs, a 7.5 percent decrease from the $18.6 million in total costs incurred in FY 2023.

FOIA News: Defense Dep't posts annual report

The Department of Defense has published its annual FOIA report for fiscal year 2024. Below is a summary of the key statistics:

• 61,858 requests received, a 2.9 percent increase from FY 2023 (60,109).

• 57,662 requests processed, a 3.4 percent increase from FY 2023 (55,731).

• 21,436 backlogged requests, a 7.8 percent increase from the end of FY 2023 (19,882).

• 1105 appeals received, only three fewer than it received in FY 2023 (1108).

• 1105 appeals processed, a 12.8 percent decrease from FY 2023 (1247)

• 607 backlogged appeals, down 17.5 percent from the end of FY 2023 (736)

• Average responses time for processed perfected requests was 30.3 days for simple requests and 199.7 days for complex requests.

• $104.9 million in total processing and litigation-related costs, a 16.5 percent increase from the $90 million in total costs incurred in FY 2023.