Freedom of Information Act
Welcome to the National Guard Bureau's FOIA Requester Service Center and Privacy Office. This Requestor Service Center was designed to assist the public in making FOIA requests for National Guard Bureau records to include the National Guard's Joint Staff, Air National Guard, and Army National Guard. Our office is also available to assist individuals seeking records about themselves under the Privacy Act or to assist in complaints and compliance with the Privacy Act.
The FOIA, known by its legal cite as Title 5 U.S.C. 552, along with the Department of Defense (DoD) Regulation 5400.7, governs how FOIA requests will be processed within the National Guard.
How to file a FOIA or Privacy Request
*Please note that the filing of a FOIA or Privacy request is a personal matter. Military personnel and Federal Government Employees may not use government time or equipment to make such requests.*
If you are seeking personal records on yourself under the Privacy Act, you must provide a signed letter indicating the specific records you are seeking. Based on the existing retrieval practice for the records you are seeking, you may be asked to provide additional information to allow us to retrieve your record. The letter, containing your signature, can be mailed, faxed, or scanned and sent as an e-mail attachment.
Essential Elements of a FOIA Request Letter:
- Provide your full name and contact information
- Provide a reasonable description of the record(s) requested
- Provide a statement of your fee category and your willingness to pay applicable fees
- Send your request to the applicable FOIA Office (see below)
Fee Categories:
- Educational, Noncommercial, Scientific, and Media: Any accredited U.S. educational or research institution or instructor of an institution, or representative of the news media using the information in a scholarly or analytical work contributing to public knowledge and disseminated to the public.
- Commercial: Increases the commercial interest of the requestor.
- All Others: All other requestors
Fees:
The FOIA provides for the collection of fees for:
- Searches: Time spent in looking for and retrieving material, either paper or electronic files, that are responsive to the request to include personnel hours (clerical and professional) and computer time.
- Reviews: Time spent to determine if the record is releasable under legal guidelines, excluding resolution of legal or policy issues. This does include time spent excising text that is exempt under FOIA.
- Reproduction: Generating a copy of a requested record in the appropriate medium, for example paper or computer file.
Fees rates and schedules can be found in DoD 5400.7, DoD Freedom of Information Act Program (http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/540007r.pdf), and on the DD 2086, Record of FOI Costs (http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/infomgt/forms/eforms/dd2086.pdf).
For more information the Freedom of Information Act, please visit http://www.usdoj.gov/oip/index.html
Where to Make a FOIA or Privacy Request
National Guard Bureau (NGB) Joint Records
If you are seeking records from the Director, NGB's Joint Staff, you may make your request to our FOIA Requestor Service Center at:
NGB/JA-FOIA
1411 Jefferson Davis Highway
Suite 11300
Arlington VA 22202
FOIA@ng.army.mil
To inquire on the status of your request, you may contact the NGB FOIA/Privacy Officer, Ms. Jennifer Nikolaisen, at (703) 607-3195.
The NGB RSC does not have any records in the reading room at this time.
Any customers who have concerns about the service received from the NGB Joint Staff Requestor Service Center may contact the DoD FOIA Public Liaison, Mr. Jim Hogan, at (703) 696-4703 or by e-mail at foia.liaison@whs.mil.
Army National Guard (ARNG) Records
If you are seeking records within the ARNG, to include the staff of the ARNG Director, you should direct your request to the appropriate ARNG FOIA Officer using the attached directory ARNG FOIA/Privacy Manager Listing.
If you are seeking records about yourself under the Privacy Act that are filed within a Privacy Act System of Record, you should direct your request to Chief of the Office where the records are held. If you are unsure of where your records may be located you may contact the appropriate ARNG State Privacy Manager using the list above.
Most contracts within the National Guard are Army National Guard records and are held within the state that the contract was initiated in. If you have the contract number, you may use this chart to determine which FOIA office to direct your request to Contract Number State Breakout
Requests for IG Records must be made to the ARNG Inspector General FOIA Office at:
SAIG-ZXR
2511 Jefferson Davis Highway
Suite 12600
Arlington, VA 22202-3912
Fax (703) 607-5868
E-mail: office.saig-zxl@ignet.army.mil
You may also find the records you are seeking by visiting the Department of the Army Reading Room at http://www.foia.af.mil/reading/
If you are still unsure who to make your request to, or if you have concerns about the service received from one of our ARNG FOIA Offices, you may contact the ARNG FOIA Officer, Ms. Jennifer Nikolaisen, at (703) 607-3195 or by e-mail at FOIA@ng.army.mil.
Air National Guard (ANG) Records
Effective 30 March 2009: The Air Force has established a new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) website for submitting request online to our Requester Service Centers (RSC). Click on the following AF FOIA Public Access Link (PAL): https://www.efoia.af.mil/palMain.aspx.
Once there, we recommend you review all the links listed on the left side as they have been designed to provide information and guidance.
The ANG FOIA Program has also been centralized effective 30 Mar 2009 and all requests for ANG records, except ANG/IG records, are now processed by one office. In your request, please indicate the state/Wing that you are seeking records from. If you prefer not to use our automated system, you may also make your request to us at:
ANG/FOIA
1411 Jefferson Davis Highway
Suite 11300
Arlington VA 22202
Fax (703) 607-3684
To inquire on the status of your request, you may contact the ANG FOIA/Privacy Officer, Ms. Jennifer Nikolaisen, at (703) 607-3195 or by e-mail at FOIA@ng.army.mil.
If you are seeking records about yourself under the Privacy Act that are filed within a Privacy Act System of Record, you should direct your request to Chief of the Office where the records are held. If you are unsure of where your records may be located on a particular installation, please refer to the attached Wing Privacy Office listing and direct your inquiry to the Installation/Wing Privacy Manager. (Link to ANG Privacy Office Contacts).
Requests for ANG Inspector General Records should be directed to:
1500 Wilson Blvd
Suite 110
Rosslyn, VA 22209-2458
https://www.efoia.af.mil/palMain.aspx
(703) 588-0768
You may also find the records you are seeking by visiting the Department of the Air Force Reading Room at http://www.foia.af.mil/reading/documents/index.asp
Any customers who have concerns about the service received by the ANG FOIA Office may contact the Air Force FOIA Public Liaison at (703) 696-6615 or by e-mail at af.foiapa@pentagon.af.mil.
Other Commonly Requested Records
For inquiries on background investigations and personnel records for former NGB, ARNG, and ANG employees, please reference: http://www.opm.gov/efoia/html/foia_contacts.asp
For inquiries on retired, separated, and deceased military personnel records (to include Army and Air National Guardsman), please reference: http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/get-service-records.html
For inquiries on Department of the Army (Non-Guard) records, please reference: https://www.rmda.army.mil/foia/docs/foia-servicecenters.pdf
For inquiries on Department of the Air Force (Non-Guard) records, please reference:
http://www.foia.af.mil/offices.