In the inbox this morning from the Department of Homeland Security.

“Today, the DHS Privacy Office deployed a consolidated web-based form allowing FOIA requesters to submit their FOIA requests to DHS and any of its components. Detailed information explains how to submit a FOIA request and information on where to direct it, while a link off the index page enables requesters to check the status of submitted requests. In addition, beginning this Fiscal Year, many of our components online check status now provides an estimated date of completion for all FOIA requests.  For the average requester, this may reduce the time and energy spent navigating the process for submitting a FOIA request to DHS.

The form looked fairly straightforward and it’s good to have a one-stop-shop. But we’re not certain that “easy in” translates into “easy out” when it comes to the requests. And using the new link to check on status didn’t get us far when we tried to track down the status of a TSA request we’ve had in since October, 2012. Kept getting server errors when trying to click through to updates.