Wednesday, April 11, 2007

FBI Seeks Six Years to Process FOIA Request

Scott Hodes writes on The FOIA Blog:

The Washington Post is reporting that the FBI is seeking six years, until 2013, to complete its processing of a request submitted by the National Security Archive. The matter is now before a federal judge who will have to decide if the time request is permissable pursuant to FOIA caselaw.

The six years sought by the FBI is not unprecedented. In the late 1980's and early 1990's the FBI, and other agencies, routinely sought lengthy periods of time to process FOIA requests when litigation was brought on those requests due to large FOIA backlogs. However, the FBI, and other agencies, worked on reducing those backlogs, and by the early part of this decade, had eliminated the need to ask for such long periods of time. Unfortunately, agencies, such as the FBI, have now reversed the clock and find themselves unable to process large requests in what would appear to be a reasonable period of time.

It will be interesting how the National Security Archive attacks the FBI's request for six years and whether the Court will grant fully grant the time.

More here.

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