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RECORDS PROVIDED BY FEDERAL
AGENCIES TO THE HONORABLE DARRELL ISSA (R-CA), On January 27, 2011, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, of the United States House of Representatives, under the direction of Chairman Darrell Issa, sought information from most federal agencies concerning their administration of the Freedom of Information Act. The Committee asked agencies for the following information: 1) A copy of the agency FOIA logs for the five years preceding the date of the letter, in Microsoft Excel or a similar format. The logs should include the name of the requester, the date of the request, a brief description of the documents or records sought, any tracking number assigned, the date the request was closed, whether any records were provided in response to the request, and any additional number or code assigned to the request for internal agency use. 2) Identification of any requests that were pending more than 45 days. 3) For those open requests pending more than 45 days, a copy of communications between the agency and requester. 4) Identification of any federal judicial action within five years where the agency was ordered by the court to pay attorney’s fees or litigation costs. 5) For any such judicial action, a copy of the court order requiring the agency to pay attorney’s fees or litigation costs. Most agencies responded quickly to the Committee. Some took longer, as the data was not in the proper format or readily available. Some agencies are still developing their responses. Chairman Issa's interest in the FOIA process proved informative. The material submitted by agencies in response to the Committee request presents a unique snapshot of FOIA.
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