Deja vu: Little progress for national security related agencies in updating FOIA policies


By SB Anderson

Same headline as a year ago, unfortunately. The latest annual audit of federal agency compliance with updated Freedom of Information Act regulations showed no change among those involved in national security.

One national security related agency was added to the list for the first time — the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board — and it entered the charts in the top category, compliant with guidelines issued by the attorney general five years ago.

In its annual FOIA audit, the National Security Archive said only half of all agencies have made an updates since the end of 2007, when the OPEN Government Act was passed.

Below is the status of regulations at 14 agencies with national security responsibilities.

2104 FOIA audit

Data extracted from latest audit by the National Security Archive.