What happens after you submit a FIOA request?
You’ll receive a confirmation within one to four weeks. The agency also may estimate how long it will take to get back to you with a response to you request or communicate the average time it takes to fill requests based on their backlog of requests. . Some agenices may or tell you the average request and state how big its backlog of FOIA requests are. The agency may send you a letter asking for more details or clarification so it can find the information you need. That’s why it is important to put as much as you can into the request.
The agency also may tell you that to find the documents will cost a certain amount for research and wants you to confirm that you will pay for that before they continue. You can request a fee waiver but you must demonstrate that the release of the information is in the public interest and will contribute significantly to public understanding of government operations and activities. The inability to pay is not basis for a waiver (Office of Information Policy, 2011, February).
Your request may be just a few days or it could take years. The more complicated the request, the less specific the request, or requests that involve documents that may be classified (or controversial) tend to take longer. At least one archive has complained of requests and appeals taking 10 years and a historian waiting three years. However, most don't take that long (National Personnel Records Center, 2011, National Security Archive, 2010, and McBride, 1980).
Once an agency has looked for the documents, generally locating them, the agency will respond in one of four ways.
A document that is redacted has had portions blacked out with a marker. One historian referred to some pages as looking like a “J. Edgar Hoover inkblot test” (McBride, 1980).
If the agency withheld the documents in whole or in part, you can appeal, provided you request an appeal within 30 to 90 days. The agency may take a week to 10-plus years to respond to the appeal (National Security Archive, 2010).
If the appeal is denied, you could contract the Office of Government Information Services, which acts as a FOIA ombudsman and moderator between requesters and agencies.
You also can file a lawsuit in federal court.
The National Security Archive has a flow chart that shows what happens to a request. However, the chart does not include the new Office of Government Information Services, which is a new step in the FOIA process.
The agency also may tell you that to find the documents will cost a certain amount for research and wants you to confirm that you will pay for that before they continue. You can request a fee waiver but you must demonstrate that the release of the information is in the public interest and will contribute significantly to public understanding of government operations and activities. The inability to pay is not basis for a waiver (Office of Information Policy, 2011, February).
Your request may be just a few days or it could take years. The more complicated the request, the less specific the request, or requests that involve documents that may be classified (or controversial) tend to take longer. At least one archive has complained of requests and appeals taking 10 years and a historian waiting three years. However, most don't take that long (National Personnel Records Center, 2011, National Security Archive, 2010, and McBride, 1980).
Once an agency has looked for the documents, generally locating them, the agency will respond in one of four ways.
- It may not have found any documents that match your request and tells you that.
- It may give you everything you asked for.
- It may give you part of what you asked for and an explanation and a list of documents that it didn’t release.
- It may withhold all the documents from release and should give an explanation.
A document that is redacted has had portions blacked out with a marker. One historian referred to some pages as looking like a “J. Edgar Hoover inkblot test” (McBride, 1980).
If the agency withheld the documents in whole or in part, you can appeal, provided you request an appeal within 30 to 90 days. The agency may take a week to 10-plus years to respond to the appeal (National Security Archive, 2010).
If the appeal is denied, you could contract the Office of Government Information Services, which acts as a FOIA ombudsman and moderator between requesters and agencies.
You also can file a lawsuit in federal court.
The National Security Archive has a flow chart that shows what happens to a request. However, the chart does not include the new Office of Government Information Services, which is a new step in the FOIA process.