ANNUAL FOIA REPORT FY 1998
I. Basic Information Regarding Report
A. Person(s) to be contacted with questions about the report.
Name Maria C. Krug
Title NOAA Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act Officer
Address 1305 East-West Highway
Room 8536, SSMC-4
Silver Spring, Maryland 20910-3281
Telephone (301) 713-3540, or (202) 482-2621
B. Electronic address for report on the World Wide Web:
C. How to obtain a copy of the report in paper form:
Mail to the address shown in I.A., or Internet at address shown in I.B.
II. How to Make a FOIA Request
Agencies may either include descriptions here or provide them by cross-reference to their FOIA reference guides (which should be electronically linked for convenient electronic reference purposes).
Instructions are shown on NOAA's FOIA Home Page at:
A. Names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all individual agency components and offices that receive FOIA requests.
Same as I.A. above.
B. Brief description of the agency's response-time ranges.
NOAA strives to answer all FOIA requests within the 20-day response time
mandated by the Electronic FOIA Amendments. There are occasions when
we need to consult with other agencies, as well as other offices within NOAA,
which can sometimes delay the response time. Other reasons why FOIA requests
are not answered within this timeframe include requests that are improperly
received, nonpayment of FOIA fees, or very voluminous FOIA requests.
C. Brief description of why some requests are not granted.
Some FOIA requests sent to NOAA are not granted if the information requested
under FOIA conflicts with other statutes.
III. Definitions of Terms and Acronyms Used in the Report (to be included in each report)
A. Agency-specific acronyms or other terms.
B. Basic terms, expressed in common terminology.
1. FOIA/PA request -- Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act request. A FOIA request is generally a request for access to records concerning a third party, an organization, or a particular topic of interest. A Privacy Act request is a request for records concerning oneself; such requests are also treated as FOIA requests.
2. Initial Request -- a request to a Federal agency for access to records under the Freedom of Information Act.
3. Appeal -- a request to a federal agency asking that it review at a higher administrative level a full denial or partial denial of access to records under the Freedom of Information Act, or any other FOIA determination such as a matter pertaining to fees.
4. Processed Request or Appeal -- a request or appeal for which an agency has taken a final action on the request or the appeal in all respects.
5. Multi-track processing -- a system in which simple requests requiring relatively minimal review are placed in one processing track and more voluminous and complex requests are placed in one or more other tracks. Requests in each track are processed on a first-in/first-out basis. A requester who has an urgent need for records may request expedited processing (see below).
6. Expedited processing -- an agency will process a FOIA request on an expedited basis when a requester has shown an exceptional need or urgency for the records which warrants prioritization of his or her request over other requests that were made earlier.
7. Simple request -- a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing places in its fastest (nonexpedited) track based on the volume and/or complexity of records requested.
8. Complex request -- a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing places in a slower track based on the volume and/or complexity of records requested.
9. Grant -- an agency decision to disclose all records in full in response to a FOIA request.
10. Partial grant -- an agency decision to disclose a record in part in response to a FOIA request, deleting information determined to be exempt under one or more of the FOIA's exemptions; or a decision to disclose some records in their entireties, but to withhold others in whole or in part.
11. Denial -- an agency decision not to release any part of a record or records in response to a FOIA request because all the information in the requested records is determined by the agency to be exempt under one or more of the FOIA's exemptions, or for some procedural reason (such as because no record is located in response to a FOIA request).
12. Time limits -- the time period in the Freedom of Information Act for an agency to respond to a FOIA request (ordinarily 20 working days from proper receipt of a "perfected" FOIA request).
13. "Perfected" request -- a FOIA request for records which adequately describes the records sought, which has been received by the FOIA office of the agency or agency component in possession of the records, and for which there is no remaining question about the payment of applicable fees.
14. Exemption 3 statute -- a separate federal statute prohibiting the disclosure of a certain type of information and authorizing its withholding under FOIA subsection (b)(3).
15. Median number -- the middle, not average, number, for example, of 3, 7, and 14, the median number is 7.
16. Average number -- the number obtained by dividing the sum of a group of numbers in the group. For example, of 3, 7, and 14, the average
number is 8.
V. Exemption 3 Statutes
A. List of Exemption 3 statutes relied on by agency during current fiscal year.
1. Brief description of type(s) of information withheld under each statute.
Magnuson-Stevens Act
2. Statement of whether a court has upheld the use of each statute. If so, then cite example.
This information is provided by the Department of Commerce Office
of General Counsel.
V. Initial FOIA/PA Access Requests
This should include all access request, whether first-party or third-party.
Both large and small agencies should provide information in the format presented below.
Agencies may additionally use chart format for breakdown by multiple agency components.
A. Numbers of initial requests
Total of the numbers in Lines 1 and 2, minus the number in Line 3, should equal the number in Line 4.
1. Number of requests pending as of end of preceding
fiscal year: 0
2. Number of requests received during current
fiscal year: 526
3. Number of requests processed during current
fiscal year. 431
4. Number of requests pending as of end of current
fiscal year: 95
(Enter this number also in Line VII.B.1)
B. Disposition of initial requests.
1. Number of total grants: 351
2. Number of partial grants/partial denials: 69
3. Number of full denials: 10
a. number of times each FOIA exemption used (counting each exemption once per request)
(1) Exemption 1 : 0
(2) Exemption 2: 2
(3) Exemption 3: 4
(4) Exemption 4: 52
(5) Exemption 5: 14
(6) Exemption 6: 24
(7) Exemption 7(A): 2
(8) Exemption 7(B): 0
(9) Exemption 7(C): 0
(10) Exemption 7(D): 0
(11) Exemption 7(E): 0
(12) Exemption 7(F): 0
(13) Exemption 8: 0
(14) Exemption 9: 0
4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total): 67
a. no records: 2
b. referrals: 12
c. request withdrawn: 15
d. fee-related reason: 8
e. records not reasonably described: 3
f. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason: 0
g. not an agency record : 1
h. duplicate request: 22
i. other (specify): 4
Undeliverable
VI. Appeals of Initial Denials of FOIA/PA Requests. (Contact DOC Office of General
Counsel for statistics in this section.)
This should include all access requests, whether first-party or third-party.
Both large and small agencies should provide information in the format presented below.
Agencies may additionally use chart format for breakdown by multiple agency components.
A. Numbers of appeals. Statistics aggregated at the Department level.
1. Number of appeals received during fiscal year __________
2. Number of appeals processed during fiscal year__________
B. Disposition of appeals.
1. Number completely upheld ___________
2. Number partially reversed __________
3. Number completely reversed __________
a. number of times each FOIA exemption used (counting each exemption once per appeal)
(1) Exemption 1 ________
(2) Exemption 2 ________
(3) Exemption 3 ________
(4) Exemption 4 ________
(5) Exemption 5 ________
(6) Exemption 6 ________
(7) Exemption 7(A) ________
(8) Exemption 7(B) ________
(9) Exemption 7(C) ________
(10) Exemption 7(D) ________
(11) Exemption 7(E) ________
(12) Exemption 7(F)________
(13) Exemption 8 _________
(14) Exemption 9 _________
4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total) ___________
a. no records ________
b. referrals _________
c. request withdrawn _________
d. fee-related reason ________
e. records not reasonably described __________
f. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason ___________
g. not an agency record ___________
h. duplicate request ____________
i. other (specify) _____________
VII. Compliance with Time Limits/Status of Pending Requests
If an agency believes that "average time" is a better measure of its performance, it should include that as well.
For decentralized agencies, calculating an agency-wide median may be difficult; a reasonable estimate may be used instead.
Both large and small agencies should provide information in the format presented below.
Agencies may additionally use chart format for breakdown by multiple agency components.
Agencies should separately report each track of a multi-track system, as well as an "expedited processing" track, and may report any other type of request at their option.
Example for calculation of median: Given 7 requests completed during the fiscal year, aged 10, 25, 35, 65, 75, 80, and 400 days from date of perfection to date of completion, the total number of requests completed during the fiscal year would be 7 and the median age of the completed requests would be 65 days.
Example for calculation of median: If there were 6 pending cases aged 10, 20, 30, 50, 120, and 200 days from date of perfection to date of completion, the total number of requests completed would be 6 and the median age would be 40 days (the average of the 2 middle numbers).
A. Median processing time for requests processed during the year.
1. Simple requests (if multiple tracks used).
a. number of requests processed: 263
b. median number of days to process: 5
2. Complex requests (specify for any and all tracks used).
a. number of requests processed: 168
b. median number of days to process: 32
3. Requests accorded expedited processing.
a. number of requests processed : 0
b. median number of days to process : 0
B. Status of pending requests.
Agencies using multiple tracks may provide numbers of each track, as well as totals.
1. Number of requests pending as of end of current
fiscal year: 95
(Enter this number from Line V.A.4.)
2. Median number of days that such requests were
pending as of that date: 78
VIII. Comparisons with Previous Year(s) (Optional)
Agencies should state comparisons both in total numbers and in percentage of change.
Note that the agency's annual report for 1997 covers a partial calendar year.
A. Comparison of numbers of requests received : NA
B. Comparison of numbers of requests processed: NA
C. Comparison of median numbers of days requests were pending
as of end of fiscal year: NA
D. Other statistics significant to agency: NA
E. Other narrative statements describing agency efforts to improve timeliness of FOIA performance and to make records available to the public (e.g., backlog-reduction efforts; specification of average number of hours per processed request; training activities; public availability of new categories of records)
1. NOAA FOIA Office launching FOIA training activities for all NOAA FOIA
personnel.
2. Employment of the Internet to make training materials available to NOAA
employees nationwide.
3. Increase in travel to regional offices to conduct FOIA training.
4. Plans to upload redesigned NOAA FOIA electronic database to ensure more
up-to-date reporting of FOIA request fulfillment.
5. NOAA's FOIA Officer's affiliation with the American Society of Access
Professionals to bring enhanced FOIA perspective to NOAA training/
compliance efforts.
IX. Costs/FOIA Staffing
Both large and small agencies should provide information in the format presented below.
Agencies may additionally use chart format for breakdown by multiple agency components.
A. Staffing levels.
1. Number of full-time FOIA personnel: 0
2. Number of personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties (in total work-years): 21
3. Total number of personnel (in work-years):
B. Total costs (including staff and all resources).
1. FOIA processing (including appeals):
2. Litigation-related activities (estimated):
3. Total Costs:
4. Comparison with previous year(s) (including percentage of change)(optional): NA
X. Fees
This includes charges for search, review, document duplication, and any other direct costs permitted under agency regulations.
A. Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests: $15,605.77
B. Percentage of total costs:
XI. FOIA Regulations (Including Fee Schedule)
Agencies should provide electronic link for availability in electronic form and attach copy in paper form.