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Washington, DC - In conjunction with President Obama signing the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, the Administration is taking new steps to build on a record of openness and transparency:

Since day one of his Administration, President Obama has sent a clear message about the need for greater transparency and openness in government.  On his first full day in office, the President issued a memorandum directing that, under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), agencies should adopt a presumption of openness.  As the President said, “In the face of doubt, openness prevails.”  Over the past seven and a half years, the Administration has made good on this promise, processing more than 4.6 million requests under FOIA, releasing unparalleled numbers of datasets to the public, and making it easier for citizens to access information from their government.

In conjunction with the President signing the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, today the Administration is announcing additional steps to build on this record of success. 

NEW ACTIONS TO MAKE FOIA WORK BETTER FOR CITIZENS

The Administration is taking a number of steps to further the progress made since 2009, ensuring that this Administration’s track record of openness is institutionalized throughout government and carries forward for years to come.

Utilizing the Chief FOIA Officers Council and FOIA Advisory Committee to address FOIA’s greatest challenges.  The FOIA Improvement Act formalizes DOJ’s existing meetings of Federal Chief FOIA Officers to form a new Chief FOIA Officers Council.  The President is tasking the Chief FOIA Officers Council to identify and address the biggest difficulties that exist in administering FOIA across government.  In order to begin work immediately on this critical task, the Administration is announcing today that new Council will hold its first meeting on July 22, 2016.  In addition, the high-level officials that comprise the Council are charged with working with stakeholders inside and outside of government, including the FOIA Advisory Committee that was created by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in May 2014. 

Today, the Administration is also announcing new members for the FOIA Advisory Committee’s 2016-2018 term.  The Administration is asking these members to look broadly at the challenges that agency FOIA programs will face in light of an ever-increasing volume of electronic records, and chart a course for how FOIA should operate in the future.  NARA is announcing today that it will hold the first meeting of the Committee’s new term on July 21, 2016.

Promoting broader release of records through a “release to one is a release to all” presumption.  In July 2015, the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched a 6-month pilot program with seven volunteer Federal agencies to assess the viability of a policy that would direct agencies to proactively post online their FOIA responses.  This concept would ensure that all citizens—not just those making a request—have access to information released under FOIA.  Over the course of the pilot, DOJ worked with participating agencies to capture metrics on the time and resources associated with implementing this policy, as well as any impacts on interested stakeholders.  The President is directing the newly established Chief FOIA Officers Council to consider the lessons learned from the DOJ pilot program and work to develop a Federal Government policy establishing a “release to one is a release to all” presumptive standard for Federal agencies when releasing records under FOIA.  The Chief FOIA Officers Council will examine issues critical to this policy’s implementation, including assessing the impact on investigative journalism efforts, as well as how best to address technological and resource challenges.  By January 1, 2017, the Chief FOIA Officers Council will work with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to provide further guidance as it relates to this presumption.

Launching a centralized FOIA request portal.  In October 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched FOIAonline as a shared-service FOIA case-management system and request portal, now used by 12 agencies.  In December 2013, the Administration built on this initial effort by committing to launching a consolidated FOIA request portal in the second U.S. Open Government National Action Plan (NAP), and recommitted to that effort in the third NAP issued in October 2015 as part of a larger expansion of the services offered by DOJ on FOIA.gov.  Today, the Administration is announcing that DOJ will work with OMB, EPA, and other agencies to launch a consolidated FOIA request portal in 2017.  This portal will initially provide for centralized submission of requests and will continue to be enhanced to include other features to guide requesters through the FOIA process, improve the public’s ability to locate already posted information, and track requests online, among other functions.  The Administration will announce further details about the functionality of the portal and the timeline for launching its initial phases in the coming months.

New guidance on open government principles and actions.  To reaffirm the President’s commitment to transparency and open government, and its importance for the long-term operations of government, OMB, in coordination with DOJ, will issue new guidance later this year that will advance open government principles related to transparency and FOIA, including the implementation of the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016.  This guidance will ensure the establishment and operation of a unified, citizen-centric FOIA request portal and promote standards for interoperability to facilitate agency adoption and participation.  OMB is also announcing today the creation of a Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) Goal for FOIA, that will be co-led by OMB, DOJ, and NARA, to focus senior leadership attention and drive performance and accountability for improving the way in which FOIA requests are administered, and ensure that Federal departments and agencies are providing sufficient resources toward FOIA responsibilities.  The new CAP goal will be publicly posted on Performance.gov, and will have a detailed action plan, including specific metrics and milestones that will be used to gauge progress.  To maintain focus on implementation, each quarter, OMB will review progress on these goals and will update Performance.gov with the latest results.

FOIA IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2016

In addition to taking the further actions described above, today the President signed into law the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016—nearly 50 years after the original FOIA was signed into law by President Johnson.  This critical legislation reflects the progress made by the Administration, codifies a number of openness and transparency principles and actions that the President has promoted since his first full day in office, and ensures that progress over the past seven-and-a-half years will be institutionalized throughout government and carried forward for years to come.

Among the improvements to existing efforts, the new law:

The Administration appreciates the bipartisan effort in Congress to enact this legislation, and looks forward to implementing it without delay.

A RECORD OF PROGRESS

The new legislative and administrative actions outlined above build on seven and a half years of work undertaken by this Administration to drive openness and transparency in government.  Notable steps include:

Releasing historic amounts of information

Building new online tools to make FOIA easier to navigate

Revising government policies to promote openness

Engaging the public