Vol. 79 Wednesday, 

No. 170 September 3, 2014 

Part III 

Department of Defense 

32 CFR Part 286 

DoD Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Program; Proposed Rule 


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE BILLING 

CODE 

Office of the Secretary 

32 CFR Part 286 

[DoD–2007–OS–0086; 0790–AI24] 

DoD Freedom of Information Act 

(FOIA) Program 

AGENCY: Department of Defense. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The rule updates DoD policy 

and procedures that implement the 

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and 

incorporate the provisions of the 

executive order directing agencies to 

improve the disclosure of information. 

This part promotes uniformity in the 

DoD FOIA Program. It takes precedence 

over all DoD Component publications 

that supplement and implement the 

DoD FOIA Program. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

November 3, 2014. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

James Hogan, 571–372–0463. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This rule 

is part of DoD’s retrospective plan, 

completed in August 2011, under 

Executive Order 13563, ‘‘Improving 

Regulation and Regulatory Review.’’ 

DoD’s full plan and updates can be 

accessed at: http://www.regulations.gov/ 

#!docketDetail;dct=FR+PR+N+O+SR;

rpp=10;po=0;D=DOD-2011-OS-0036. 

Executive Summary 

I. Purpose of This Regulatory Action 

a. This rule revises 32 CFR part 286 

in accordance with the authority in 32 

CFR part 285 to implement 5 U.S.C. 552 

and incorporate the provisions of 

Executive Order 13392. This part 

promotes uniformity in the DoD FOIA 

Program. 

b. Authority: The Freedom of 

Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552), 

as amended, provides that any person 

has a right, enforceable in court, to 

obtain access to federal agency records, 

except to the extent that such records 

(or portions of them) are protected from 

public disclosure by one of nine 

exemptions or by one of three special 

law enforcement record exclusions. 

Furthermore, the FOIA requires agency 

to promulgate regulations to carry out 

some of its provisions. 

II. Summary of the Major Provisions of 

This Regulatory Action 

This rule implements changes to 

conform to the requirements of the 

Electronic Freedom of Information Act 

Amendments of 1996, Public Law 104– 

231, and the OPEN Government Act of 

2007, Public Law 110–175. 

III. Costs and Benefits of This 

Regulatory Action 

This regulatory action imposes no 

monetary costs to the Agency or public. 

The benefit to the public is the accurate 

reflection of the Agency’s FOIA Program 

to ensure that policies and procedures 

are known to the public. 

Regulatory Procedures 

Executive Order 12866, ‘‘Regulatory 

Planning and Review’’ and Executive 

Order 13563, ‘‘Improving Regulation 

and Regulatory Review’’ 

We have consulted with the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) and 

determined this NPRM meets the 

criteria for a significant regulatory 

action under Executive Order 12866, as 

supplemented by Executive Order 

13563, and was subject to OMB review. 

Sec. 202, Public Law 104–4, ‘‘Unfunded 

Mandates Reform Act’’ 

Section 202 of the Unfunded 

Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA) 

(Pub. L. 104–4) requires agencies assess 

anticipated costs and benefits before 

issuing any rule whose mandates 

require spending in any 1 year of $100 

million in 1995 dollars, updated 

annually for inflation. This document 

will not mandate any requirements for 

State, local, or tribal governments, nor 

will it affect private sector costs. 

Public Law 96–354, ‘‘Regulatory 

Flexibility Act’’ (5 U.S.C. 601) 

It has been certified that 32 CFR part 

286 is not subject to the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601) because it 

would not, if promulgated, have a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities. 

The rule implements the procedures for 

processing FOIA requests within the 

Department of Defense. Therefore, the 

Regulatory Flexibility Act, as amended, 

does not require us to prepare a 

regulatory flexibility analysis. 

Public Law 96–511, ‘‘Paperwork 

Reduction Act’’ (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35) 

This proposed rule do not create any 

new or affect any existing collections, 

and therefore, do not require OMB 

approval under the Paperwork 

Reduction Act 

Executive Order 13132, ‘‘Federalism’’ 

Executive Order 13132 establishes 

certain requirements that an agency 

must meet when it promulgates a 

proposed rule (and subsequent final 

rule) that imposes substantial direct 

requirement costs on State and local 

governments, preempts State law, or 

otherwise has Federalism implications. 

This document will not have a 

substantial effect on State and local 

governments. 

List of Subjects in 32 CFR Part 286 

Freedom of information. 

Accordingly, 32 CFR part 286 is 

proposed to be revised to read as 

follows: 

PART 286—DOD FREEDOM OF 

INFORMATION ACT (FOIA) PROGRAM 

Subpart A—General 

Sec. 

286.1 Purpose. 

286.2 Applicability. 

286.3 Definitions. 

286.4 Policy. 

286.5 Responsibilities. 

Subpart B—General Provisions 

286.6 Public access to DoD information. 

286.7 FOIA requester service center. 

286.8 FOIA Public Liaisons. 

286.9 Unofficial release of DoD information. 

286.10 Description of requested record. 

286.11 Combatant Commands. 

286.12 Security clearances and access. 

286.13 Use of contractors in FOIA 

administration. 

286.14 Records management. 

286.15 Relationship between the FOIA and 

the Privacy Act. 

286.16 Non-responsive information. 

286.17 Honoring form or format requests. 

286.18 Annual report. 

286.19 Dispute resolution and the Office of 

Government Information Services 

(OGIS). 

Subpart C—FOIA Libraries 

286.20 Requirements. 

286.21 Record availability. 

286.22 Indexes. 

286.23 Section (a)(1) records. 

Subpart D—Exemptions 

286.24 General provisions. 

286.25 Applying the FOIA exemptions. 

286.26 Exclusions. 

Subpart E—FOIA Request Processing 

286.27 General provisions. 

286.28 Processing procedures. 

286.29 Initial determinations. 

286.30 Referrals and consultations. 

286.31 Appeals. 

286.32 FOIA litigation. 

Subpart F—Fee Schedule 

286.33 General provisions. 

286.34 Fees for technical data. 

286.35 Fees for research data. 

Subpart G—Education and Training 

286.36 Purpose. 

286.37 Responsibility. 

286.38 Scope and principles. 

286.39 Implementation. 

Appendix A to Part 286—DoD FOIA Program 

Components and Addresses 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552. 


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Subpart A—General 

§ 286.1 Purpose. 

This part is in accordance with the 

authority in DoD Directive 5105.53, 

‘‘Director of Administration and 

Management (DA&M)’’ (available from 

http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/

corres/pdf/510553p.pdf) and the 

guidelines and responsibilities in 32 

CFR part 285 to implement 5 U.S.C. 552 

(also known and hereinafter referred to 

as ‘‘The Freedom of Information Act 

(FOIA), as amended’’) and incorporate 

the provisions of Executive Order 

13392. This part promotes uniformity in 

the DoD FOIA Program. It takes 

precedence over all DoD Component 

publications that supplement and 

implement the DoD FOIA Program. 

§ 286.2 Applicability. 

This part applies to the Office of the 

Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Military 

Departments, the Office of the Chairman 

of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Joint 

Staff, the Combatant Commands, the 

Office of the Inspector General of the 

Department of Defense, the Defense 

Agencies, the DoD Field Activities, and 

all other organizational entities within 

the Department of Defense (referred to 

collectively in this part as the ‘‘DoD 

Components’’). 

§ 286.3 Definitions. 

Unless otherwise noted, these terms 

and their definitions are for this part. 

Administrative appeal. A request by a 

member of the public, made pursuant to 

the FOIA, asking the appellate authority 

of a DoD Component to reverse any 

adverse determination by an initial 

denial authority (IDA). 

Adverse determination. A decision by 

an IDA to withhold all or part of a 

requested record pursuant to an 

exemption, deny a fee category claim by 

a FOIA requester, deny a request for 

waiver or reduction of fees, deny a 

request to review an initial fee estimate, 

deny a request for expedited processing, 

confirm that no records were located 

during the initial search, or make any 

determination that a FOIA requester 

believes is adverse in nature. 

Agency record. (1) Includes all 

documents or records created or 

obtained by an agency of the 

Government that are in an agency’s 

possession and control at the time a 

FOIA request is received. Four factors 

determine an agency’s control: 

(i) The intent of the creator of the 

document to retain control over the 

record; 

(ii) The ability of the agency to use 

and dispose of the record as it sees fit; 

(iii) The extent to which agency 

personnel have read or relied upon the 

document; 

(iv) The degree to which the 

document was integrated into the 

agency’s record systems or files. 

Information maintained by an entity 

pursuant to government contract for a 

DoD Component for records 

management is considered in the DoD 

Component’s possession. Records 

created by an agency employee during 

employment, including emails, may be 

either agency records or personal files. 

(A) Examples include: 

(1) Research data produced during the 

performance of a federal grant used by 

the Government in developing an 

agency action that has the force and 

effect of law in accordance with OMB 

Circular No. A–110 (available at http:// 

www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars_

a110/). 

(2) Books, papers, maps, photographs, 

machine-readable materials inclusive of 

those in electronic form or format, and 

other documentary materials, regardless 

of physical form or characteristics. Form 

or format refers to physical media type 

or transmission mode desired by the 

FOIA requester, e.g., computer disk, 

computer tape, file transfer protocol, 

photographs, videotape, and microfiche. 

(B) Examples do not include: 

(1) Objects or articles such as 

structures, furniture, vehicles, and 

equipment, whatever their historical 

value or value as evidence. 

(2) Anything that is not a tangible or 

documentary record, such as an 

individual’s memory or oral 

communication. 

(3) Personal files. 

(2) The definition of an agency record 

under the FOIA is more expansive than 

the definition of a federal record. 

Documents such as drafts and working 

files need not be official records as 

defined as official records, but are still 

agency records responsive to FOIA 

requests. 

Appellate authority. The DoD 

Component head, or designee, having 

jurisdiction to review and possibly 

reverse, remand, or amend any adverse 

determination made by an IDA. Every 

DoD Component listed in Appendix A 

to this part must have an appellate 

authority. 

Critical Infrastructure Security 

Information (CISI). Defined in 10 U.S.C. 

130e(c). 

Commercial request. A FOIA request 

from or on behalf of one who seeks 

information for a use or purpose that 

furthers the commercial, trade, or profit 

interest of the FOIA requester or the 

person on whose behalf the FOIA 

request is made. 

Compelling need. A state that exists 

when the failure to obtain requested 

records on an expedited basis could 

reasonably be expected to pose an 

imminent threat to the life or physical 

safety of an individual, or when the 

information is urgently needed by an 

individual primarily engaged in 

disseminating information in order to 

inform the public concerning actual or 

alleged government activity and the 

value of the information would be lost 

if it is disseminated at a later time. 

Consultation. The process whereby a 

federal agency transfers a FOIA 

responsive document to another federal 

agency or non-government entity, in 

certain situations, to obtain 

recommendations on the releasability of 

the document. After review, the 

document is returned to the original 

agency for response to the FOIA 

requester or further review. 

Deliberative information. Internal 

advice, recommendations, or subjective 

evaluations that are reflected in records 

relied upon in the decision-making 

process of an agency, whether within or 

among agencies. 

Demonstration of a compelling need. 

A statement certified to be true and 

correct to the best of a FOIA requester’s 

knowledge and belief. This statement 

must be with the FOIA request in order 

for it to be considered and responded to 

within the 10 calendar days required for 

decisions on expedited access. 

Direct costs. Those expenditures a 

DoD Component makes in searching for, 

reviewing, and duplicating documents 

to respond to a FOIA request. For 

example, direct costs may include the 

salary of the employee performing the 

work (the basic rate of pay plus 16 

percent of that rate to cover benefits) 

and the costs of operating duplicating 

machinery. (These factors have been 

included in the fee rates prescribed in 

Table 1 of § 286.33.) Not included in 

direct costs are overhead expenses such 

as the cost of space, heating, or lighting 

the facility where the records are stored. 

Duplication. The process of making a 

copy of a document in response to a 

FOIA request. Such copies can take the 

form of paper, microfiche, audiovisual 

or machine-readable documentation 

(e.g., magnetic tape or CD), among 

others. Time spent programming or 

querying a computer system to output 

information in a particular digital form 

or format for a FOIA requester is 

considered search time. 

Educational institution. A pre-school, 

a public or private elementary or 

secondary school, an institution of 

undergraduate higher education, an 

institution of graduate higher education, 

an institution of professional education, 


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or an institution of vocational education 

that operates a program or programs of 

scholarly research. 

Electronic records. Records (including 

email) created, stored, and retrievable 

by electronic means. 

Federal agency. Defined in 5 U.S.C. 

551(1) and 552(f)(1). A federal agency 

cannot make a FOIA request. 

Fee waiver. Defined in 5 U.S.C. 

552(a)(4)(A)(iii). 

Final response determination. The 

response from the DoD Component, at 

the completion of the processing of an 

initial FOIA request, to the FOIA 

requester reflecting the final release 

determination made by the DoD 

Component. 

FOIA Public Liaison. A supervisory 

official to whom a FOIA requester can 

raise concerns about the service the 

FOIA requester receives from a FOIA 

Requester Center, and who is 

responsible for assisting in reducing 

delays, increasing transparency and 

understanding of the status of requests, 

and assisting in the resolution of 

disputes. All DoD Components listed in 

Appendix A to this part must have a 

FOIA Public Liaison. 

FOIA request. A written request for 

DoD records that reasonably describes 

the record(s) sought, enabling a DoD 

Component employee familiar with the 

files to locate the record(s) with a 

reasonable amount of effort. 

(1) A commercial requester asking for 

contract-related documents must 

indicate a willingness to pay fees equal 

to or greater than the minimum fees 

established by the DoD Component for 

commercial requesters. 

(2) Written FOIA requests may be 

submitted by U.S. Postal Service or 

other commercial delivery means, by 

facsimile, or electronically, to an 

address provided for submission of 

FOIA requests and must include the 

FOIA requester’s postal mailing address. 

Commercial delivery is acceptable; 

however, due to security concerns, the 

DoD Components may refuse to accept 

commercial delivery of FOIA requests. 

FOIA requester. Any person, 

including a partnership, corporation, 

association, State or State agency, 

foreign government, foreign national, or 

a lawyer or other representative acting 

on behalf of any person, who submits a 

FOIA request. This definition 

specifically excludes agencies within 

the Executive Branch of the government. 

FOIA Requester Service Center. A 

DoD Component office that receives 

FOIA requests from and responds 

directly to the public. It also is the first 

place a FOIA requester can contact to 

seek information concerning the status 

of that person’s FOIA request and 

appropriate information about the 

agency’s FOIA response. 

Form. The storage media that hold 

content in digital form on which 

responsive information is provided to 

FOIA requesters. Examples are 

electronic documents, audiovisual 

material on tape, and all storage media 

that hold content in digital form and 

that are written and read by a laser; 

these media include all the various CD 

and DVD variations. Paper documents 

are typically an example of non-digital 

storage media. 

Format. A pre-established layout for 

data. A computer program accepts data 

as input in a certain format, processes 

it, and provides it as output in the same 

or another format. All digital data is 

stored in some format with the 

expectation that it will be processed by 

a program that knows how to handle 

that format. Usually, data formats tend 

to fall into bitmaps (strings of 0s and 1s) 

that describe images or sound patterns 

(or both), text formats (where each byte 

value usually is mapped to a character), 

and numeric data formats (used by 

spreadsheet and other database 

programs). Examples include a preestablished arrangement of data for 

computer input or output, such as the 

number and size of data fields in a 

record or the spacing and punctuation 

of information in a report. 

Glomar. The term applied to a type of 

response to a FOIA request where the 

DoD Component neither confirms nor 

denies the existence or nonexistence of 

records responsive to the FOIA request. 

IDA. An official who has been granted 

authority by the DoD Component head 

to withhold records requested pursuant 

to the FOIA for one or more of the nine 

categories of records exempt from 

mandatory disclosure. An IDA may also 

deny a fee category claim by a FOIA 

requester, deny a request for expedited 

processing, deny a request for a waiver 

or reduction of fees, review a fee 

estimate, and confirm that no records 

were located in response to a FOIA 

request. 

Individual primarily engaged in 

disseminating information. A person or 

entity whose primary activity involves 

publishing or otherwise disseminating 

information to the public. To qualify, a 

person or entity must establish that 

information dissemination is their 

principal professional activity or 

occupation, and not an incidental or 

secondary activity 

Military Flight Operations Quality 

Assurance (MFOQA) system data file. 

Defined in 10 U.S.C. 2254(a)(2). 

Misdirected FOIA request. A FOIA 

request that is mistakenly addressed to 

a FOIA Requester Service Center of a 

DoD Component that is not the proper 

DoD Component to process the request. 

News. Information that is about 

current events or that would be of 

current interest to the public. 

Non-commercial scientific institution. 

An institution that is not operated on a 

commercial basis and that is operated 

solely for conducting scientific research, 

the results of which are not intended to 

promote any particular product or 

industry. 

Perfected FOIA request. A request that 

meets the definition of a FOIA request 

and that arrives at the FOIA Requester 

Service Center of the DoD Component in 

possession of the records. The statutory 

time limit for responding to a FOIA 

request does not begin until it is 

perfected. 

Personal file. Documents unrelated to 

the conduct of agency business, or 

indirectly related to agency business but 

outside the scope of agency records. A 

personal file is not subject to the FOIA. 

FOIA case law predominantly refers to 

personal files as personal records. 

Examples include: 

(1) Business or professional files 

created before entering government 

service; files created during or relating 

to previously held positions, political 

materials, and reference files. 

(2) Private files brought into, created, 

or received in the office; family and 

personal correspondence and materials 

documenting professional activities and 

outside business or political pursuits, 

including manuscripts and drafts for 

articles and books and volunteer and 

community service records that are 

considered personal, even if created or 

received while in office, because they 

do not relate to agency business. 

(3) Work-related personal files 

including emails, diaries, journals, 

notes, and personal calendars and 

appointment schedules. Though workrelated, these files may be personal if 

they are used only as reminders and 

personal observations on work-related 

topics, not for the transaction of 

government business. 

Pre-decisional information. 

Information created before the decision 

maker reached a final decision. 

Privacy Act request. As defined in 32 

CFR part 310. 

Public interest. The interest in 

obtaining official information that sheds 

light on an agency’s performance of its 

statutory duties because the information 

falls within the statutory purpose of the 

FOIA to inform citizens about 

government activities. 

Referral. The process whereby a DoD 

Component receiving the FOIA request 

locates documents originating with 

another DoD Component or federal 


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agency. Accordingly, the FOIA request 

and documents are transferred to the 

originating DoD Component or federal 

agency for response directly to the FOIA 

requester. 

Representative of the news media. A 

person or entity that gathers information 

of potential interest to a segment of the 

public, uses its editorial skills to turn 

the raw materials into a distinct work, 

and distributes that work to an 

audience. 

Review. The time taken to conduct the 

initial examination of responsive 

documents located to determine 

whether one or more of the statutory 

exemptions permit withholding. 

Additionally, the time taken to redact, 

either manually or electronically, the 

documents to prepare them for release 

would be considered review time, as is 

the time to prepare and provide 

submitter notification and review 

submitter responses in accordance with 

E.O. 12600. Review does not include the 

time spent resolving general legal or 

policy issues regarding the application 

of exemptions. 

Search time. Includes all time spent 

looking, both manually and 

electronically, for records responsive to 

a FOIA request. Electronic searches 

would include searching for responsive 

email or electronic documents whether 

they are located on personal computers, 

network servers, databases, or easily 

accessible storage media. The time taken 

by a programmer to create a program to 

run a requested report from a database 

is search time. The term ‘‘search’’ also 

includes a page-by-page or line-by-line 

identification (if necessary) of material 

in the record to determine if it, or 

portions of it, are responsive to the 

FOIA request. 

Submitter. A person or entity outside 

of the government providing 

commercial or financial information or 

trade secrets to the government. 

Technical data. Recorded information 

related to experimental, developmental, 

or engineering works that can be used 

to define an engineering or 

manufacturing process or to design, 

procure, produce, support, maintain, 

operate, repair, or overhaul material. 

Toll. To delay, suspend, or hold off 

the effects of a statute. 

Urgently needed. Information 

requested has a particular value that 

will be lost if not disseminated quickly, 

such as a breaking story of general 

public interest. Information of historical 

interest only, or information sought for 

litigation or commercial activities, 

would not qualify as ‘‘urgently needed,’’ 

nor would a news media publication or 

broadcast deadline unrelated to the 

news-breaking nature of the 

information. 

§ 286.4 Policy. 

It is DoD policy, pursuant to 32 CFR 

part 285, to promote government 

transparency and accountability by 

adopting a presumption in favor of 

disclosure in all decisions involving the 

FOIA and responding promptly to FOIA 

requests in a spirit of cooperation. 

§ 286.5 Responsibilities. 

The OSD and DoD Component heads 

implement the procedures prescribed in 

this part and ensure that supplemental 

guidance and procedures are in 

accordance with 32 CFR part 285 and 

this part. 

Subpart B—General Provisions 

§ 286.6 Public access to DoD information. 

(a) The public has a right to 

information concerning U.S. 

Government activities. 

(1) A DoD record (referred to in this 

part as ‘‘record’’) requested by a member 

of the public who follows rules 

established by this part must not be 

withheld in whole or in part unless the 

record is exempt from partial or total 

disclosure by the FOIA. 

(2) The applicability of a FOIA 

exemption to withhold information does 

not preclude the DoD Component from 

making a discretionary release in 

accordance with § 286.24(b). 

(b) Executive Order 13392 directs 

agencies to emphasize a new citizencentered approach to the FOIA with a 

results-oriented focus. Because FOIA 

requesters are seeking a service from the 

government, the DoD Components must 

respond courteously and appropriately 

to FOIA requesters. Additionally, the 

DoD Components must provide the 

public with citizen-centered ways to 

learn about the FOIA process, 

information about agency records that 

are publicly available, and information 

about the status of a person’s FOIA 

request and appropriate information 

about the agency’s response. 

(c) The Defense Freedom of 

Information Policy Office (DFOIPO) 

maintains a handbook for the public to 

use in obtaining information from the 

Department of Defense as required by 

section (g)(3) of the FOIA and section 

2(b)(v) of Executive Order 13392. This 

handbook is a short, simple explanation 

of what the FOIA is designed to do and 

how the public can use it to access DoD 

records. This handbook will be posted 

on the DFOIPO Web site and the FOIA 

Web site of each DoD FOIA Component 

listed in Appendix A to this part must 

have a link to it. 

(d) Individuals seeking DoD 

information should address their FOIA 

requests to one of the FOIA Requester 

Service Center addresses listed in 

Appendix A to this part. If a FOIA 

requester is uncertain where to send a 

FOIA request for DoD information, the 

FOIA requester can call 1–866–574– 

4970 (toll-free) for assistance. 

§ 286.7 FOIA requester service center. 

(a) Each DoD FOIA Program 

Component listed in Appendix A to this 

part must establish one or more FOIA 

Requester Service Centers. 

(b) Each FOIA Requester Service 

Center will have a Web site that serves 

to educate the public on the FOIA 

process. These Web sites will comply 

with DoD Instruction 8550.01. At a 

minimum, each Web site will have: 

(1) The address, telephone number, 

facsimile number, and organizational 

email address to which FOIA requests 

can be sent. 

(2) A link to the DoD FOIA handbook. 

(3) A description of the types of 

records that can be requested. 

(4) The name and contact information 

of the DoD Component’s FOIA public 

liaison. 

(5) Information on how a FOIA 

requester can obtain the status of a FOIA 

request (either by telephone or through 

the FOIA Requester Service Center Web 

site). 

(6) A FOIA library as described in 

§ 286.20(b) or a link to the DoD 

Component’s FOIA library if the library 

is centralized. 

(c) The Web sites of DoD Component 

Headquarters FOIA Requester Service 

Centers will link to the Web sites of the 

other FOIA Requester Service Centers 

within their Components. 

(d) The Internet home page of every 

DoD Component will link to the FOIA 

Requester Service Center for that DoD 

Component. 

§ 286.8 FOIA Public Liaisons. 

The DoD Components listed in 

Appendix A to the part will submit to 

the Director of Administration and 

Management (DA&M) the names of 

personnel to serve as DoD Component 

FOIA Public Liaisons. Each DoD 

Component will have at least one FOIA 

Public Liaison. Intermediate level 

public liaisons may be named by those 

DoD Components that have a large 

number of FOIA Requester Service 

Centers. 

(a) The FOIA Public Liaisons are 

responsible for: 

(1) Ensuring that the FOIA Requester 

Service Centers’ Web sites comply with 

the requirements in § 286.7(b) through 

(d). 


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(2) Assisting in the reduction of any 

delays in responding to FOIA requests. 

(3) Increasing transparency and 

understanding of request’s statuses. 

(4) Assisting in dispute resolution. 

(b) The FOIA Public Liaison for the 

DoD Components listed in Appendix A 

to this part will be appointed from 

DFOIPO. 

§ 286.9 Unofficial release of DoD 

information. 

Records released by the authority of 

this part or under circumstances in 

which a DoD official with the 

appropriate authority has authorized the 

release of the information to the public 

are considered to be in the public 

domain. The disclosure of exempt 

records, without authorization by the 

appropriate DoD official, is not an 

official release of information; 

accordingly, it is not a FOIA release. 

Such a release does not waive the 

authority of the Department of Defense 

to assert FOIA exemptions to withhold 

the same records in response to a FOIA 

request. Also, while the authority may 

exist to disclose records to individuals 

in their official capacity, the provisions 

of this part apply if the same individual 

seeks the records in a private or 

personal capacity. 

§ 286.10 Description of requested record. 

The requester is responsible for 

providing a description of the desired 

record that enables the DoD Component 

to locate the record with a reasonable 

amount of effort. A reasonable 

description contains sufficient 

information to permit an organized, 

non-random search for the record based 

on the DoD Component’s filing 

arrangements and existing retrieval 

systems. The DoD Component’s 

decision on the reasonableness of the 

description must be based on 

knowledge of its files, and not on the 

potential volume of records that may be 

located and the concurrent review effort 

to determine releasability. The fact that 

a FOIA request appears broad or 

burdensome (e.g. a large volume of 

potentially responsive information) does 

not necessarily entitle the DoD 

Component to deny the FOIA request on 

the grounds that it does not reasonably 

describe the record sought. 

§ 286.11 Combatant Commands. 

The Combatant Commands FOIA 

programs are placed under OSD 

jurisdiction instead of the administering 

Military Department or the Chairman of 

the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This is an 

exception to DoD Directive 5100.03 

(available at http://www.dtic.mil/whs/

directives/corres/pdf/510003p.pdf) in 

that it authorizes and requires the 

Combatant Commands to process FOIA 

requests in accordance with 32 CFR part 

285 and this part. 

(a) The appellate authority for the 

Combatant Commands is the DA&M in 

accordance with 32 CFR part 285. When 

requested, the Combatant Commands 

will forward directly to DFOIPO the 

administrative record associated with 

the appeal of an initial denial for 

records pursuant to the FOIA. The 

Combatant Commands will advise FOIA 

requesters that they have the right to 

appeal any adverse determinations to 

the DA&M. 

(b) Documents originated by the 

Military Service components of the 

Combatant Commands, while 

performing joint exercises or operations 

under Combatant Command authority, 

are joint in nature and are under the 

cognizance of the Combatant 

Commands. 

(1) Each Combatant Command will 

establish processing procedures that 

address coordinating FOIA requests for 

these joint documents between the 

Combatant Command and the Military 

Service component. 

(2) These procedures should include 

the determination as to whether the IDA 

responsibility would be at the 

Combatant Command or decentralized 

to the Military Service component; 

however, appellate authority remains 

with the DA&M for these documents. 

(3) As an exception, if the responsive 

documents are located within a Defense 

Criminal Investigative Organization 

(such as the Air Force Office of Special 

Investigations) or accident investigation 

file at the Military Service component, 

then the release, initial denial, and 

appellate authorities may remain with 

the Service or the appropriate Defense 

Criminal Investigative Organization. 

However, the Military Service 

Component will consult with the 

responsible Combatant Command 

during the review process before 

release. 

(c) The FOIA Public Liaison for the 

Combatant Commands will be assigned 

from DFOIPO. 

§ 286.12 Security clearances and access. 

FOIA personnel require access to all 

records requested through their 

respective activities, regardless of the 

sensitivity or classification of the 

information due to the nature of their 

duties and responsibilities. The DoD 

Components must ensure that FOIA 

personnel have the appropriate 

clearances and accesses to perform their 

duties. 

§ 286.13 Use of contractors in FOIA 

administration. 

Pursuant to DoD Instruction 1100.22 

(Available at http://www.dtic.mil/whs/

directives/corres/pdf/110022p.pdf) and 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) Circular No. A–76 (available at 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/

circulars_a076_a76_incl_tech_

correction), certain functions known as 

inherently governmental activities must 

not be outsourced to a contractor. The 

DoD Components will not outsource 

inherently governmental FOIA 

functions. Primarily, activities that 

require the exercise of substantial 

discretion in applying government 

authority or in making decisions for the 

government are inherently 

governmental. 

(a) Inherently governmental FOIA 

functions include: 

(1) Formulating or approving FOIA 

policies and procedures. 

(2) Making final determinations 

regarding whether to treat incoming 

correspondence as a FOIA or Privacy 

Act request. 

(3) Making denial or release 

determinations of information requested 

pursuant to the FOIA. 

(4) Deciding any issues regarding the 

scope or interpretation of a FOIA 

request. 

(5) Determining the appropriateness 

of claimed exemptions. 

(6) Approving the approach taken in 

negotiations or discussions with the 

FOIA requester. 

(7) Deciding administrative appeals. 

(8) Conducting final review of all 

outgoing correspondence, 

memorandums, and release packages. 

(9) Making final determinations of 

requests for expedited processing, fee 

category, and fee waivers. 

(10) Executing documents for filing in 

litigation pursuant to the FOIA if the 

documents assert an official position of 

the Department of Defense, any DoD 

Components, or any other federal 

agencies. Contractors may prepare and 

execute documents describing their own 

actions while processing FOIA requests. 

(b) Examples of FOIA functions and 

duties that contractors may perform 

(this list is not all inclusive): 

(1) Redact documents. 

(2) Prepare correspondence for 

signature by a government official. 

(3) Communicate with a FOIA 

requester concerning the status of the 

FOIA request. 

(4) Make recommended redactions. 

(5) Enter relevant information into the 

DoD Component’s FOIA tracking 

system. 


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§ 286.14 Records management. 

FOIA records, including all 

correspondence and responsive records, 

must be maintained and disposed of in 

accordance with the National Archives 

and Records Administration, General 

Records Schedule 14 and DoD 

Component records schedules. 

§ 286.15 Relationship between the FOIA 

and the Privacy Act. 

(a) Requesters seeking records about 

themselves contained only in a Privacy 

Act system of records will have their 

requests processed pursuant to the 5 

U.S.C. 552a (also known as the ‘‘Privacy 

Act of 1974,’’ as amended, and referred 

to in this part as the ‘‘Privacy Act’’ 

implemented within the DoD by 32 CFR 

part 310). 

(1) If the Privacy Act system of 

records is exempt from the provisions of 

section (d)(1) of the Privacy Act, and if 

the records, or any portion thereof, are 

exempt pursuant to FOIA, the requester 

will be so advised with the appropriate 

Privacy Act and FOIA exemption(s). 

Appeals must be processed pursuant to 

both the FOIA and the Privacy Act. 

(2) If the Privacy Act system of 

records is not an exempt system, a FOIA 

exemption cannot be claimed on the 

information and all information will be 

released to the requester. However, 

privacy-related information about a 

third party within the requester’s 

Privacy Act file may be withheld from 

the requester. Case law supports the 

DoD Components advising the requester 

that information was withheld that is 

‘‘not about you.’’ 

(b) Requesters seeking records about 

themselves not in a Privacy Act system 

of records and who cite or imply the 

Privacy Act will have their requests 

processed pursuant to the FOIA, since 

the Privacy Act does not apply to these 

records. Appeals must be processed 

pursuant to the FOIA. 

(c) Requesters who seek both records 

about themselves in a Privacy Act 

system of records and records contained 

outside a Privacy Act system of records 

will have their requests processed 

pursuant to both the Privacy Act and the 

FOIA. 

(d) Requesters will be advised in the 

final response letter which statutory 

authorities were used, inclusive of 

appeal rights. 

§ 286.16 Non-responsive information. 

(a) The DoD Components will 

interpret FOIA requests liberally when 

determining which records are 

responsive, and may release nonresponsive information. Responsive 

multiple-subject documents may 

contain a significant amount of nonresponsive information, the review of 

which may cause delays in responding 

to the FOIA requester. A determination 

that information is non-responsive 

should be made only when the DoD 

Component has a firm basis for 

concluding that the information is 

clearly beyond the scope of the 

requester’s evident interest in the 

request. In cases where it appears highly 

likely that the non-responsive 

information may be exempt from release 

(e.g. the document is classified), these 

procedures apply. 

(1) The DoD Component must contact 

the FOIA requester, explain that the 

responsive documents are multi-subject 

and contain a significant amount of nonresponsive information, and seek the 

FOIA requester’s concurrence to the 

deletion of the non-responsive 

information without a FOIA exemption. 

If the FOIA requester concurs, these 

redactions will be annotated on the 

provided document as non-responsive, 

and the concurrence will be reflected in 

the response letter. 

(2) If the FOIA requester does not 

agree to deletion of non-responsive 

information without a FOIA exemption, 

the DoD Component will process all 

non-responsive and responsive 

information for release. 

(b) The DoD Components will not 

apply the procedures in paragraph (a)(1) 

of this section to documents that have 

a relatively small percentage of nonresponsive information. Additionally, 

non-responsive information will not be 

redacted on less than a page-by-page 

basis. That is, a non-responsive 

paragraph within an otherwise 

responsive page will not be redacted as 

non-responsive. 

§ 286.17 Honoring form or format 

requests. 

(a) The DoD Components will make 

reasonable efforts to: 

(1) Provide the record in any form or 

format requested if the record is readily 

reproducible in that form or format in 

the Component’s automated system. 

(2) Provide records in a form that is 

reasonably usable. 

(3) Maintain records in forms and 

formats that are reproducible. 

(4) Use available office equipment to 

digitally reproduce hard copy records 

onto digital media. 

(b) The readily reproducible criterion 

is not met if a DoD Component must 

outsource or expend significant 

resources to reproduce a record into the 

requested format. In responding to FOIA 

requests for records, the DoD 

Components will make reasonable 

efforts to search for records in electronic 

form or format if maintained in 

automated systems, except when such 

efforts would significantly interfere with 

the operation of the automated systems. 

Such determinations will be made on a 

case-by-case basis. 

§ 286.18 Annual report. 

The DoD Annual FOIA Report to the 

Attorney General is mandated by 

section (e)(1) of the FOIA and 

completed on a fiscal-year basis. 

Because of the magnitude of the 

requested statistics and the need for 

accuracy, the DoD Components will 

track the annual report data as FOIA 

requests are processed. This facilitates 

accurate compilation of the statistics in 

completing the report. Each September, 

DFOIPO provides instructions to the 

DoD Components concerning 

Component input for the Annual FOIA 

Report. Using the current edition of DD 

Form 2564, ‘‘Annual Freedom of 

Information Act Report’’ (available at 

http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/

infomgt/forms/eforms/dd2564.pdf), the 

DoD Components will forward their 

report to DFOIPO no later than October 

31. In turn, the DA&M submits a 

consolidated report to the Attorney 

General, and places a copy of this report 

on the Internet for public access. 

§ 286.19 Dispute resolution and the Office 

of Government Information Services (OGIS). 

DoD FOIA Public Liaisons will work 

to resolve disputes with FOIA 

requesters. When a FOIA requester 

seeks OGIS assistance in resolving any 

disputes, DoD FOIA Public Liaisons will 

work with OGIS to resolve the dispute. 

If during this informal dispute 

resolution process it is determined that 

the disputed issue is a candidate for 

mediation, this process will proceed as 

follows: 

(a) OGIS will advise DFOIPO of the 

possibility of mediation. 

(b) The applicable DoD Component 

will accept or reject the offer of 

mediation services in accordance with 

the component’s Alternate Dispute 

Resolution (ADR) policy and issuances 

after consulting with DFOIPO. 

(c) DFOIPO will contact the DoD ADR 

Liaison to identify a shared neutral for 

the mediation process. 

Subpart C—FOIA Libraries 

§ 286.20 Requirements. 

(a) General. The FOIA requires 

records described in section 552(a)(2) of 

the FOIA and created on or after 

November 1, 1996, to be available 

electronically to the public. This is 

known as the FOIA library. In addition 

to these records, the DoD Components 

may elect to place other records in their 

libraries. 


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(b) DoD Component FOIA libraries. 

Each DoD Component will establish one 

or more FOIA libraries. The DoD 

Components that have only one FOIA 

Requester Service Center will meet this 

requirement by having a FOIA library 

on its FOIA Web site. The DoD 

Components with more than one FOIA 

Requester Service Center will meet this 

requirement by either having one FOIA 

library on its primary FOIA Web site or 

having a FOIA library on each FOIA 

Requester Service Center Web site. All 

DoD FOIA libraries and the documents 

posted in the DoD FOIA libraries will 

meet the requirements DoD Instruction 

8550.01. 

(1) Final opinions. Section (a)(2)(A) of 

the FOIA requires agencies to make final 

opinions available to the public. This 

requirement is met by the Defense 

Office of Hearings and Appeals Web 

site. DoD Components are not required 

to post or link to these documents in 

their FOIA libraries. 

(2) Statements of policy. Section 

(a)(2)(B) of the FOIA requires agencies 

to make statements of policy and 

interpretations available to the public 

that have been adopted by the agencies 

and are not published in the Federal 

Register. This requirement is met by the 

publication of DoD issuances on the 

DoD Issuances Web site. DoD 

Components are not required to post or 

link to these documents in their FOIA 

libraries. 

(3) Administrative staff manuals or 

instructions. Section (a)(2)(C) of the 

FOIA requires agencies to make 

administrative staff manuals and 

instructions that establish policy or 

interpretations that affect the public 

available to the public. Each DoD 

Component FOIA library will link to its 

respective Component’s publicly 

available issuance publication Web 

page. For example, the Air Force FOIA 

Web site will link to the Air Force ePublishing Web site, and the OSD/Joint 

Staff FOIA Requester Service Center 

will link to the DoD Issuances Web site. 

(4) Frequently requested documents. 

Section (a)(2)(D) of the FOIA requires 

agencies to make available to the public 

records that are or are likely to become 

the subject of frequent (three or more) 

FOIA requests. Each DoD Component 

FOIA library will post documents 

meeting this requirement. 

(5) Index. Section (a)(2)(E) of the 

FOIA requires an index of the 

documents posted in accordance with 

Section (a)(2)(D). This requirement is 

met by the DoD Components arranging 

these documents in its FOIA library by 

topical or descriptive words, rather than 

by case name or numbering system, so 

that the public can readily locate 

material. Case name and numbering 

arrangements may also be included for 

DoD Component convenience. 

(6) Proactive releases. DoD 

Components will post other documents 

in this section of their FOIA library, 

such as proactive releases, documents 

released in accordance with the 

Mandatory Declassification Review 

program, and other documents released 

in accordance with the FOIA. This 

section may also contain links to other 

component offices proactively releasing 

documents. 

(c) Exemptions. All information that 

qualifies for withholding pursuant to 

one or more of the FOIA exemptions 

described in subpart D of this part will 

be redacted from all records in FOIA 

libraries. 

§ 286.21 Record availability. 

The DoD Components should 

consider enhancing their FOIA libraries 

with search engines and document 

categories to provide the public easier 

access. 

§ 286.22 Indexes. 

Sections 552(g)(1) and (2) of the FOIA 

require agencies to make publicly 

available an index of all major 

information systems and a description 

of major information and record locator 

systems. 

(a) Major information systems. The 

DFOIPO Web site satisfies this 

requirement for the DoD. The DoD 

Components are not required to post or 

link to this index in their FOIA libraries. 

(b) Record locator system. The 

DFOIPO Web site satisfies this 

requirement for the DoD. The DoD 

Components are not required to post or 

link to this index in their FOIA libraries. 

§ 286.23 Section (a)(1) records. 

(a) Although (a)(1) records are not 

required to be made available in 

response to FOIA requests or in FOIA 

libraries, they must be made available 

when feasible. Examples of (a)(1) 

records are descriptions of an agency’s 

central and field organization and, to 

the extent they affect the public, rules 

of procedures; descriptions of forms 

available; instructions as to the scope 

and contents of papers, reports, or 

examinations; and any amendments, 

revisions, or reports of the 

aforementioned records. 

(b) In accordance with section (a)(1) of 

the FOIA, each DoD Component will 

disclose, through publication in the 

Federal Register, information describing 

its organization, functions, procedures, 

substantive rules, and statements of 

general policy. 

Subpart D—Exemptions 

§ 286.24 General provisions. 

(a) This section is not a thorough or 

exhaustive explanation of the 

applicability of the FOIA exemptions. 

The DoD Components may consult the 

Department of Justice Guide to the 

Freedom of Information Act (Available 

at http://www.usdoj.gov/oip/foiaguide.html) for more detailed 

explanations. 

(b) The DoD Components will make 

discretionary disclosures of exempt 

information, if appropriate. A 

discretionary release is not appropriate 

for information determined to be 

exempt pursuant to Exemptions 1, 3, 4, 

6, 7(C), and 7(F) of the FOIA as set out 

in § 286.25(a), (c), (d), (f), and (g)(1)(iii) 

and (vi). As for the other exemptions, 

which primarily protect governmental 

interests, a discretionary release is 

appropriate unless the DoD Component 

can reasonably identify a foreseeable 

harm that would result from release of 

the information. In making this 

determination, the DoD Components 

will consider the sensitivity of the 

document’s content and its age. 

(c) As described in this section, nine 

types of exempt information in records 

may be withheld, in whole or in part, 

from public disclosure unless otherwise 

prescribed by law. In general, a 

discretionary release of a record to one 

FOIA requester prevents the 

withholding of the same record 

pursuant to a FOIA exemption if the 

record is later requested by someone 

else. However, a FOIA exemption may 

be invoked to withhold information that 

is similar or related to information that 

has been the subject of a discretionary 

release. 

(d) In applying exemptions, the 

identity of the FOIA requester and the 

purpose for the FOIA request are 

irrelevant; however, an exemption may 

not be invoked when the particular 

interest to be protected is the FOIA 

requester’s interest. 

(e) If a FOIA requester requests 

information that is about that FOIA 

requester, Exemption 6 as set out in 

§ 286.25(f) should not be used to deny 

the information. However, if another 

FOIA requester requests the same 

information, it should be denied under 

Exemption 6. 

(f) If admitting the fact of the 

existence or nonexistence of a record 

responsive to a FOIA request would 

itself reveal information protected from 

release by one of the nine exemptions, 

the DoD Components must neither 

confirm nor deny the existence or 

nonexistence of the requested record. 


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(1) This is commonly called a 

‘‘Glomar’’ response (for detailed 

guidance on using this type of response, 

see Volume VII, Number I of the U.S. 

Department of Justice, ‘‘FOIA Update,’’ 

(available at: http://www.justice.gov/

oip/foia_updates/Vol_VII_1/page5.htm), 

and the appropriate exemption must be 

cited by the DoD Component in the 

response. This situation most commonly 

arises with Exemptions 1, 6, and 7 as set 

out in § 286.25(a), (f), and (g); however, 

it could arise with other exemptions. 

(2) A ‘‘refusal to confirm or deny’’ 

response must be used consistently by 

the DoD Components, not only when a 

record exists, but also when a record 

does not exist. If not used consistently, 

the pattern of a ‘‘no record’’ response 

when a record does not exist, and a 

‘‘refusal to confirm or deny’’ when a 

record does exist, risks disclosing 

exempt information. 

§ 286.25 Applying the FOIA exemptions. 

This section describes the nine types 

of exempt information in records and 

procedures for applying them. 

(a) Exemption 1. Pursuant to section 

(b)(1) of the FOIA, records properly and 

currently classified in the interest of 

national defense or foreign policy, as 

specifically authorized pursuant to the 

criteria established by an existing 

Executive order establishing 

classification criteria and implemented 

by regulation, such as DoD Manual 

5200.01 Volume 1 (available at http://

www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/

520001_vol1.pdf), are exempt from 

disclosure. If the responsive information 

is not classified when the FOIA request 

is submitted, a classification review may 

be undertaken by the DoD Component 

to determine whether the information 

should be classified. The procedures in 

DoD Manual 5200.01 Volume 1 apply in 

this situation. If the information 

qualifies as Exemption 1 information 

under this paragraph (a), there is no 

discretion regarding its release. The 

FOIA requester will be advised which 

sections of the Executive order apply in 

determining that the information is 

classified. Exemption 1 also is invoked 

when: 

(1) Individual items of unclassified 

information, when compiled, reveal 

additional associations or relationships 

that meet the standard for classification 

pursuant to an existing Executive Order 

and DoD Manual 5200.01 Volume 1, and 

are not otherwise revealed in the 

individual items of information. This is 

known as the ‘‘mosaic’’ or 

‘‘compilation’’ approach. 

(2) The fact of the existence or 

nonexistence of a record would itself 

reveal classified information. 

(b) Exemption 2. Pursuant to section 

(b)(2) of the FOIA, records related solely 

to the internal personnel rules and 

practices of the Department of Defense 

or any of the DoD Components are 

exempt from disclosure. DoD 

Components should be aware that the 

U.S. Supreme Court effectively 

eliminated the formulation of this 

exemption that was previously referred 

to as Exemption 2 (High). 

(c) Exemption 3. Pursuant to section 

(b)(3) of the FOIA, records concerning 

matters that another statute specifically 

exempts are exempt from disclosure. 

This exemption allows for the 

withholding of information because its 

release is prohibited by another statute 

only if one of two disjunctive 

requirements is met. The statute 

requires that the information be 

withheld from the public in such a 

manner as to leave no discretion on the 

issue, or the statute establishes 

particular criteria for withholding or 

refers to particular types of matters to be 

withheld. For any statute enacted after 

October 28, 2009, in order to qualify as 

an Exemption 3 statute under this 

paragraph (c) it must cite to section 

(b)(3) of the FOIA. DFOIPO maintains 

on its Web site a list of Exemption 3 

statutes used within the Department of 

Defense. 

(1) Personally identifying information 

of DoD personnel. Title 10 U.S.C. 130b 

authorizes the withholding of names, 

ranks, duty addresses, official titles, and 

pay information of DoD personnel 

(civilian and military) in overseas, 

sensitive, or routinely deployable units 

when this information is requested 

pursuant to the FOIA. The United States 

Special Operations Command and its 

components qualify as sensitive units 

pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 130b. Initial 

denial authorities (IDAs) within the 

Department of Defense should withhold 

this information pursuant to Exemption 

3 under this paragraph (c) subject to the 

exceptions listed in paragraphs (c)(1)(i) 

and (ii) of this section. Information 

withheld pursuant to Exemption 3 and 

this statute also should be withheld 

pursuant to Exemption 6 as set out in 

paragraph (f) of this section, and, 

depending on the type of records where 

the information is located, Exemption 

7(C) as set out in paragraph (g)(1)(iii) of 

this section. 

(i) Civilian and military officials 

whose duties make them known to the 

public. The DoD Components may make 

a discretionary release of names and 

duty information of personnel in 

overseas, sensitive, or routinely 

deployable units who, by the nature of 

their position and duties, frequently 

interact with the public. Officials whose 

identities may be released include 

general and flag officers, public affairs 

officers (PAOs), other personnel 

designated as official command 

spokespersons, and other senior officials 

whose identities are known to the 

public through the performance of their 

duties. 

(ii) Release of information by DoD 

PAOs. This provision does not change 

DoD instructions for PAOs and the rules 

used by public affairs offices to release 

information to the general public and 

the media. Public affairs offices should 

continue to release information in 

accordance with current DoD issuances, 

Privacy Act restrictions, and security 

classifications. 

(2) Sensitive information of foreign 

governments and international 

organizations. Title 10 U.S.C. 130c 

authorizes the withholding of 

unclassified sensitive information of a 

foreign government or international 

organization. IDAs within the 

Department of Defense must withhold 

this information pursuant to Exemption 

3 under this paragraph (c) as specified 

in this paragraph (c)(2) (for procedural 

instructions, see § 286.28(e)(2)) when 

they make all three of these 

determinations concerning the 

requested information: 

(i) The information was provided to 

the Department of Defense by (or 

produced in cooperation with) a foreign 

government or international 

organization. 

(ii) The information is withheld from 

public disclosure by the foreign 

government or international 

organization (the foreign government or 

international organization should make 

this representation in writing). 

(iii) Any of these three conditions are 

met: 

(A) The foreign government or 

international organization requests in 

writing that the information be 

withheld. 

(B) The foreign government or 

international organization provides the 

information to the Department of 

Defense on the condition that it is not 

released to the public. 

(C) DoD regulations specify the 

release of the requested information 

would have an adverse effect on the 

ability of the Department of Defense to 

obtain the same or similar information 

in the future. 

(3) CISI. In accordance with 10 U.S.C. 

130e, the Secretary of Defense and the 

DA&M may exempt CISI from release 

under the FOIA. IDAs must obtain this 

written determination in accordance 

with the procedures in § 286.28(k) 

before withholding CISI from a FOIA 

requester. 


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(4) Military Flight Operations Quality 

Assurance (MFOQA) system data file. In 

accordance with 10 U.S.C. 2254a, the 

Secretary of Defense and the DA&M may 

exempt MFOQA system data files from 

release under the FOIA. IDAs must 

obtain this written determination in 

accordance with the procedures in 

subpart E of this part before withholding 

MFOQA system data file information 

from a FOIA requester. 

(d) Exemption 4. Pursuant to section 

(b)(4) of the FOIA, certain nongovernment financial information 

exempt from disclosure. 

(1) This exemption protects: 

(i) Trade secrets; or 

(ii) Information that is: 

(A) Commercial or financial. 

(B) Obtained from a person or entity 

outside of the Federal Government. 

(C) Privileged or confidential. 

(2) Commercial or financial 

information that is voluntarily 

submitted to the U.S. government, 

absent any exercised authority 

prescribing criteria for submission, may 

be categorically protected provided it is 

not customarily disclosed to the public 

by the submitter. Examples of exercised 

authorities prescribing criteria for 

submission are statutes, Executive 

orders, regulations, invitations for bids, 

requests for proposals, and contracts. 

Submission of information pursuant to 

these authorities should be analyzed in 

accordance with paragraph (d)(3) of this 

section and § 286.28(f)(1). 

(3) Commercial or financial 

information that is not voluntarily 

provided to the government is 

considered ‘‘confidential’’ for 

Exemption 4 under this paragraph (d) if 

its disclosure is likely to: 

(i) Impair the government’s ability to 

obtain necessary information in the 

future (known as the ‘‘impairment 

prong’’); 

(ii) Harm an identifiable private or 

governmental interest; or 

(iii) Cause substantial harm to the 

competitive position of the person 

providing the information. 

(4) Examples of information that may 

be protected by Exemption 4 under this 

paragraph (d) include: 

(i) Commercial or financial 

information received in connection with 

loans, bids, contracts, or proposals. 

(ii) Statistical data and commercial or 

financial information concerning 

contract performance, income, profits, 

losses, and expenditures. 

(iii) Personal statements given during 

inspections, investigations, or audits. 

(iv) Financial data provided by 

private employers in connection with 

locality wage surveys that are used to fix 

and adjust pay schedules applicable to 

the prevailing wage rate of employees 

within the Department of Defense. 

(v) Scientific and manufacturing 

processes or developments concerning 

technical or scientific data or other 

information submitted with an 

application for a research grant, or with 

a report while research is in progress. 

(vi) Technical or scientific data 

developed by a contractor or 

subcontractor exclusively at private 

expense, or developed in part with 

federal funds and in part at private 

expense. The contractor or 

subcontractor must retain legitimate 

proprietary interests in such data in 

accordance with 10 U.S.C. 2320–2321 

and 48 CFR 227.71 and 227.72. 

Technical data developed exclusively 

with federal funds may be withheld 

pursuant to Exemption 3 as set out in 

paragraph (c) of this section if it meets 

the criteria of 10 U.S.C. 130 and 48 CFR 

227.71 and 227.72. 

(vii) Information copyrighted 

pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 106 if release of 

copyrighted material otherwise meets 

the standards of Exemption 4 under this 

paragraph (d). 

(5) When the DoD Components 

receive FOIA requests for information 

that could be protected by this 

exemption, they will notify the 

submitter of the information (see 

§ 286.28(f)(1) for notification 

procedures). Submitters having any 

objections to disclosure must submit a 

detailed written statement that specifies 

all grounds for withholding any portion 

of the information pursuant to 

Exemption 4 under this paragraph (d). 

This statement must explain why the 

information is a trade secret or 

commercial or financial information 

that is privileged or confidential (e.g., 

how release would cause substantial 

competitive harm). 

(e) Exemption 5. Pursuant to section 

(b)(5) of the FOIA, inter- or intra-agency 

memorandums or letters containing 

information considered privileged in 

civil litigation are exempt from 

disclosure. Information that has been 

considered privileged in civil litigation 

is information that is usually privileged 

in the civil discovery context. Merely 

being an internal record is an 

insufficient basis for withholding 

pursuant to this exemption. Records 

that are not available routinely through 

the discovery process during litigation 

with the agency because they are 

privileged can be withheld pursuant to 

this exemption. The most common 

discovery privileges incorporated into 

Exemption 5 under this paragraph (e) 

are the deliberative process, the attorney 

work product, and the attorney-client 

privilege. 

(1) Threshold. A document must meet 

the threshold requirement of being an 

inter- or intra-agency document before 

the proper privilege can be identified in 

any given case. Because in many 

instances the U.S. government must 

seek expert advice from external entities 

(or consultants), the courts developed 

an ‘‘outside consultant’’ test that helps 

in determining whether such an 

external entity qualifies as an ‘‘agency’’ 

for this exemption. If an entity meets the 

test, then documents that it originates 

may be protected by Exemption 5 under 

this paragraph (e). If the outside 

consultant is an interested party in the 

decision-making process, then this 

threshold is not met. 

(2) Privileges. The privileges and 

types of information protected by 

Exemption 5 under this paragraph (e) 

include, but are not limited to: 

(i) Deliberative process privilege. (A) 

To qualify for this privilege, the 

information must be both deliberative 

and pre-decisional (see § 286.3), and be 

part of the decision-making process. 

Information that is factual cannot be 

withheld from a FOIA requester 

pursuant to this privilege except when: 

(1) The author of a document selects 

specific facts out of a larger group of 

facts and this very act is deliberative in 

nature. This information qualifies for 

withholding because its release would 

reveal the author’s internal thought 

processes; or 

(2) The factual information is so 

inextricably connected to the 

deliberative material that its disclosure 

would expose or cause harm to the 

agency’s deliberations. 

(B) A direction or order from a 

superior to a subordinate usually does 

not qualify as a deliberative process 

document if it constitutes policy 

guidance or a decision. However, 

correspondence from a superior to a 

subordinate may qualify if it discusses 

preliminary matters or requests 

information or advice relied upon in the 

decision-making process. 

(C) An agency’s final decision and 

post-decisional documents related to the 

decision cannot be withheld pursuant to 

the deliberative process privilege. 

(D) Examples of deliberative process 

documents include: 

(1) Staff papers, including after-action 

reports, inspection reports, lessons 

learned, and situation reports 

containing staff evaluations, advice, 

opinions, or suggestions. 

(2) Advice, suggestions, or evaluations 

prepared on behalf of the Department of 

Defense by individual consultants or by 

internal boards, committees, councils, 

groups, panels, conferences, 

commissions, task forces, or other 


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similar groups that are formed for 

obtaining advice and recommendations. 

(3) Drafts of final records. 

(4) Information of a speculative, 

tentative, or evaluative nature, or such 

matters as proposed plans to procure, 

lease, or otherwise acquire and dispose 

of materials, real estate, facilities, or 

functions, when such information 

would provide undue or unfair 

competitive advantage to private 

personal interests or would impede 

legitimate U.S. government functions. 

(5) Agency materials underlying the 

President’s budget decisions as 

described in OMB Circular No. A–11 

(available at http://

www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars_

a11_current_year_a11_toc/). This 

includes planning, programming, and 

budgetary information that is involved 

in the defense planning and resource 

allocation process and out-year 

discretionary data. 

(ii) Attorney-client privilege. This 

privilege protects confidential 

communications between an attorney 

and a client (or multiple clients that 

share a common interest) relating to 

legal matters for which the client has 

sought professional advice. The 

information that the client supplies to 

the attorney, the advice that the attorney 

gives to the client in return, and 

communications between attorneys that 

reflect client-supplied information are 

protected by this privilege. Unlike the 

deliberative process privilege, with the 

attorney-client privilege all the 

information should be withheld, 

including the facts, unless the client 

waives the privilege. 

(iii) Attorney work product privilege. 

This privilege protects documents 

prepared by an attorney or at an 

attorney’s direction in reasonable 

anticipation of litigation. Unlike the 

deliberative process privilege, with the 

attorney work product privilege all the 

information can be withheld, including 

the facts. This privilege still can be used 

after the litigation is complete. 

(iv) Government trade secret privilege. 

This privilege protects trade secrets or 

other confidential research, 

development, or commercial 

information owned by the government, 

premature release of which is likely to 

affect the government negotiating 

position or other commercial interest. 

(v) Safety investigation privilege. This 

privilege protects privileged safety 

information as defined in DoD 

Instruction 6055.07 (available at http:// 

www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/

605507p.pdf). 

(vi) Presidential communications 

privilege. This privilege protects 

communications among the President 

and Presidential advisors created to 

assist the President in the exercise of 

non-delegable constitutional duties. 

(f) Exemption 6. Pursuant to section 

(b)(6) of the FOIA, information in 

personnel and medical files and similar 

files, the disclosure of which would 

constitute a clearly unwarranted 

invasion of personnel privacy, is exempt 

from disclosure. If the information 

qualifies as Exemption 6 under this 

paragraph (f) information, there is no 

discretion in its release. 

(1) When considering applying this 

exemption, an agency must balance the 

public interest in disclosure and the 

individual’s privacy interest. When 

there is no public interest in the 

requested information, the information 

can be withheld even if there is only a 

negligible privacy interest. The public 

interest to be considered when applying 

this exemption is whether the 

information sheds light on the 

operations or activities of the 

government. The FOIA requester has the 

burden to show that there is a public 

interest in disclosure. 

(2) A privacy interest may exist in 

personal information even though the 

information has been disclosed at some 

place and time. This is known as the 

concept of practical obscurity. For 

example, information that was once 

publicly known (e.g. a court-martial trial 

40 years ago) may no longer be in the 

public’s eye and has faded from 

memory. In this case, the privacy 

interest in this type of situation may 

have increased over time, the public 

interest may have decreased over time, 

and therefore an agency should now 

withhold the once-public information, 

since the balance of interests has now 

shifted in favor of privacy. 

(3) Examples of other files containing 

personal information similar to that in 

personnel and medical files include: 

(i) Files compiled to evaluate or 

adjudicate the suitability of candidates 

for civilian employment or membership 

in the Military Services, and the 

eligibility of individuals (civilian, 

military, or contractor employees) for 

security clearances or for access to 

particularly sensitive classified 

information. 

(ii) Files containing reports, records, 

and other material pertaining to 

personnel matters where administrative 

action, including disciplinary action, 

may be taken. 

(4) Because of the national emergency 

declared by the President on September 

14, 2001, the DoD Components are 

authorized to withhold lists of 

personally identifying information of 

DoD personnel, including active duty 

military personnel, civilian employees, 

contractors, members of the Reserve 

Components, and military dependents 

under Exemption 6 under this 

paragraph (f). Additionally, personally 

identifying information of DoD military 

and civilian personnel who are assigned 

to overseas, sensitive, or routinely 

deployable units is exempt from release 

pursuant to Exemption 3 as set out in 

paragraph (c) of this section, with 10 

U.S.C. 130b as the withholding statute. 

Names and duty addresses (postal and 

email) published in telephone 

directories, organizational charts, 

rosters, and similar materials for 

personnel are considered ‘‘lists of 

personally identifying information,’’ 

and therefore qualify for withholding 

pursuant to Exemption 6 (and 

Exemption 3 as set out in paragraph (c) 

of this section if applicable). 

(5) Home addresses, telephone 

numbers, and private email addresses 

are usually protected by this exemption. 

This includes home addresses and 

military quarters addresses not 

associated with the occupants’ names. 

(6) This exemption must not be used 

in an attempt to protect the privacy of 

a deceased person. It may be used to 

protect the privacy of the deceased 

person’s surviving family members if 

disclosure would rekindle grief, 

anguish, pain, embarrassment, or result 

in a disruption of their peace of mind. 

In such situations, the DoD Components 

must balance the surviving family 

members’ privacy interests and the 

public’s interest to determine its 

releasability. 

(7) This exemption also applies when 

the fact of the existence or nonexistence 

of a responsive record would itself 

reveal information containing a privacy 

interest, and the public interest in 

disclosure does not outweigh the 

privacy interest. In this situation, the 

DoD Components must neither confirm 

nor deny the existence or nonexistence 

of the record being requested (Glomar 

response) and Exemption 6 under this 

paragraph (f) must be cited. 

(g) Exemption 7. Pursuant to section 

(b)(7) of the FOIA, records or 

information compiled for law 

enforcement purposes are exempt from 

disclosure upon the identification of 

one of the six conditions delineated in 

paragraphs (g)(1)(i) through (vi) of this 

section. Law enforcement purposes 

include civil, criminal, military, and 

regulatory, including the 

implementation of Executive orders or 

regulations issued pursuant to law. This 

exemption may be invoked to prevent 

disclosure of documents not originally 

created for, but later gathered for, law 

enforcement purposes. 


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(1) Conditions where Exemption 7 

applies—(i) Exemption 7(A). This 

exemption applies to records compiled 

for law enforcement purposes when 

disclosure could reasonably be expected 

to interfere with enforcement 

proceedings (section (b)(7)(A) of the 

FOIA). The DoD Components can use 

Exemption 7(A) under this paragraph 

(g)(1)(i) during the course of law 

enforcement proceedings, when there is 

a prospective law enforcement 

proceeding and during any subsequent 

or pending proceedings resulting from 

the original proceeding. 

(ii) Exemption 7(B). This exemption 

applies to records compiled for law 

enforcement purposes when disclosure 

would deprive a person of the right to 

a fair trial or to an impartial 

adjudication (section (b)(7)(B) of the 

FOIA). 

(iii) Exemption 7(C). This exemption 

applies to records compiled for law 

enforcement purposes when disclosure 

could reasonably be expected to 

constitute an unwarranted invasion of 

the personal privacy of a living person, 

including surviving family members of 

an individual identified in such a record 

(section (b)(7)(C) of the FOIA). 

(iv) Exemption 7(D). This exemption 

applies to records compiled for law 

enforcement purposes when disclosure 

could reasonably be expected to 

disclose the identity of a confidential 

source, including a source within the 

Department of Defense; a State, local, or 

foreign agency or authority; or any 

private institution that furnishes the 

information on a confidential basis, and 

could disclose information furnished 

from a confidential source and obtained 

by a criminal law enforcement authority 

in a criminal investigation or by an 

agency conducting a lawful national 

security intelligence investigation 

(section (b)(7)(D) of the FOIA). 

(v) Exemption 7(E). This exemption 

applies to records compiled for law 

enforcement purposes when disclosure 

would disclose techniques and 

procedures for law enforcement 

investigations or prosecutions, or would 

disclose guidelines for law enforcement 

investigations or prosecutions, if such 

disclosure could reasonably be expected 

to risk circumvention of the law (section 

(b)(7)(E) of the FOIA). 

(vi) Exemption 7(F). This exemption 

applies to records compiled for law 

enforcement purposes when disclosure 

could reasonably be expected to 

endanger the life or physical safety of 

any individual (section (b)(7)(F) of the 

FOIA). 

(2) Examples of Exemption 7 

applications. (i) Statements of witnesses 

and other material developed during the 

course of an investigation and all 

materials prepared in connection with 

related government litigation or 

adjudicative proceedings may be 

exempt from disclosure pursuant to 

Exemptions 7(A), 7(C), and 7(D) as set 

out in paragraphs (g)(1)(i), (iii), and (iv) 

of this section. 

(ii) The identity of firms or 

individuals being investigated for 

alleged irregularities involving 

contracting with the Department of 

Defense when no indictment has been 

obtained nor any civil action filed 

against them by the United States may 

be exempt from disclosure pursuant to 

Exemptions 7(A) and 7(C) as set out in 

paragraphs (g)(1)(i) and (iii) of this 

section. 

(iii) Information obtained in 

confidence, expressed or implied, 

during a criminal investigation by a 

criminal law enforcement agency or a 

lawful national security intelligence 

investigation may be exempt from 

disclosure pursuant to Exemptions 7(A), 

7(C), and 7(D) as set out in paragraphs 

(g)(1)(i), (iii), and (iv) of this section. 

National security intelligence 

investigations include background 

security investigations and those 

investigations conducted to obtain 

affirmative or counterintelligence 

information. 

(iv) Emergency action plans, 

guidelines for response to terrorist 

attacks, analyses of security procedures, 

and other sensitive information that 

could prove deadly if obtained by those 

seeking to do harm to the public on a 

large scale may be exempt from 

disclosure pursuant to Exemptions 7(E) 

and 7(F) as set out in paragraphs 

(g)(1)(v) and (vi) of this section. 

(h) Exemption 8. Pursuant to section 

(b)(8) of the FOIA, records in or related 

to examination, operation, or condition 

reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for 

the use of any agency responsible for the 

regulation or supervision of financial 

institutions are exempt from disclosure. 

(i) Exemption 9. Pursuant to section 

(b)(9) of the FOIA, records containing 

geological and geophysical information 

and data (including maps) concerning 

wells are exempt from disclosure. 

§ 286.26 Exclusions. 

Section (c) of the FOIA contains three 

special protection provisions referred to 

as record exclusions. Of these 

exclusions, only two are applicable to 

the Department of Defense. These 

exclusions expressly authorize DoD law 

enforcement components to treat 

especially sensitive records under 

certain specified circumstances as not 

subject to the requirements of the FOIA. 

The DoD Component considering 

invoking one of these exclusions must 

first consult with legal counsel and with 

DFOIPO. In turn, DFOIPO will consult 

with the Office of Information Policy, 

Department of Justice. Because of the 

possibility of the existence of excluded 

records, DoD law enforcement 

components will respond to all FOIA 

requests when no records are located or 

when located records fall within an 

exclusion by stating that no records 

responsive to the FOIA were found. The 

instances where a FOIA request 

involves excluded records are: 

(a) The records or information are 

described in section (b)(7)(A) of the 

FOIA and the following two conditions 

are met: 

(1) The investigation or proceeding 

involves a possible violation of criminal 

law, and 

(2) There is reason to believe that the 

subject of the investigation or 

proceeding is unaware of the pending 

investigation or proceeding and the 

disclosure of the existence of the 

records could reasonably be expected to 

interfere with law enforcement 

proceedings. 

(b) Informant records maintained by a 

DoD law enforcement component under 

an informant’s name or personal 

identifier are requested by a third party 

using the informant’s name or personal 

identifier unless the informant’s status 

as an informant has been officially 

confirmed. 

Subpart E—FOIA Request Processing 

§ 286.27 General provisions. 

(a) Requests from private parties. (1) 

The provisions of the FOIA are reserved 

for members of the public and are not 

to be used by government agencies 

seeking official information. 

(2) When personally identifying 

information in a record is requested by 

the subject of the record or the subject’s 

representative, and the information is 

contained within a Privacy Act system 

of records, it is processed pursuant to 

the Privacy Act. If a Privacy Act 

exemption applies to the system of 

records, then the request is processed 

pursuant to the FOIA. The DoD 

Components must comply with 32 CFR 

part 310 to confirm the identity of the 

requester. 

(b) Requests from local or State 

government officials, Congress, and 

foreign governments. (1) Local or State 

government officials, foreign officials 

requesting on behalf of their 

government, foreign individuals, or 

foreign organizations requesting DoD 

Component records pursuant to the 

FOIA are considered the same as any 

other FOIA requester. 


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(2) The FOIA does not apply to the 

records of a DoD Component that is an 

element of the Intelligence Community 

as defined in 50 U.S.C. 401a(4) if the 

FOIA request is from a non-U.S. 

government entity or representative. 

(3) Requests from members of 

Congress who are not seeking records on 

behalf of a congressional committee or 

subcommittee, or on behalf of the House 

of Representatives or the Senate sitting 

as a whole, should not be processed 

through FOIA channels; however, any 

release of information will be consistent 

with a release to any individual 

pursuant to the FOIA and its 

withholding exemptions. In these cases, 

the member will not be provided with 

FOIA appeal rights. 

(4) Requests submitted by members of 

Congress on behalf of a congressional 

committee or subcommittee or on behalf 

of the House of Representatives or the 

Senate sitting as a whole that are 

received by the DoD Component’s FOIA 

Requester Service Center are referred to 

the appropriate office that handles 

legislative inquiries for processing 

pursuant to DoD Instruction 5400.04 

(available at http://www.dtic.mil/whs/ 

directives/corres/pdf/540004p.pdf) or 

supplementing DoD Component 

directives. Such requests are not 

processed pursuant to the FOIA. 

(5) If a member of Congress chooses 

to request DoD records pursuant to the 

FOIA, then the provisions of this part 

apply. 

(6) Constituent requests for DoD 

records that are forwarded by members 

of Congress are processed as FOIA or 

Privacy Act requests, as applicable. The 

member forwarding the request will be 

advised of these circumstances. 

(7) The Office of the Assistant 

Secretary of Defense for Legislative 

Affairs will be notified of every instance 

when a member of Congress objects that 

the DoD has not responded to a 

congressional request for information in 

the form it was originally requested, 

whether that request is made by an 

individual member or a congressional 

committee. 

(8) Requests from officials of foreign 

governments that do not invoke the 

FOIA are referred to the appropriate 

office authorized to disclose official 

DoD information to foreign 

governments, and the requester is so 

notified. 

(c) Privileged release outside of the 

FOIA to U.S. Government officials. (1) 

Records exempt from release to the 

public pursuant to the FOIA may be 

disclosed in accordance with DoD 

Component regulations to another 

federal agency in response to an official 

request from the other federal agency in 

accordance with applicable law and 

regulations, as determined by the DoD 

Component head or designee. Such 

disclosures are not official releases to 

the public under the FOIA. 

(2) The DoD Components will inform 

officials receiving records in accordance 

with the provisions of this paragraph 

that those records are exempt from 

public release pursuant to the FOIA. 

The DoD Components also will advise 

officials of any special handling 

instructions. Classified information is 

subject to the provisions of Volumes 2 

and 3 of DoD Manual 5200.01. 

Information contained in a Privacy Act 

system of records is subject to 32 CFR 

part 310. 

§ 286.28 Processing procedures. 

(a) Receipt and control. When it 

receives a FOIA request, a FOIA 

Requester Service Center must open a 

file in a formal control system designed 

for accountability and compliance with 

the FOIA. The control system should 

include the data elements needed to 

compile the statistics required in the 

Annual FOIA Report and other reports 

required by another authority. Each 

request is assigned a unique tracking 

number which is included in all 

correspondence with the requester. 

(b) Prompt action on FOIA requests. 

(1) When unusual or exceptional 

circumstances prevent a FOIA Requester 

Service Centers from making a final 

response determination within the 

statutory time period, it will advise the 

FOIA requester in writing and provide 

the FOIA requester an opportunity to 

narrow the scope of the FOIA request or 

arrange for an alternative timeframe. 

FOIA Requesters Service Centers will, 

as a matter of good practice, be available 

to assist requesters in the formulating of 

requests. 

(i) Unusual circumstances are: 

(A) The responsive documents are 

located at a facility geographically 

separated from the FOIA Requester 

Service Center processing the FOIA 

request. 

(B) The responsive documents are 

voluminous. 

(C) One or more other agencies or DoD 

Components have a substantial interest 

in either the determination or the 

subject matter of the FOIA request, 

requiring the FOIA Requester Service 

Center processing the FOIA request to 

consult with the other agencies or DoD 

Components. 

(ii) Exceptional circumstances are not 

affirmatively defined in the FOIA; 

however, a predictable agency workload 

of requests may be considered an 

exceptional circumstance if the DoD 

Component can demonstrate reasonable 

progress in reducing its backlog of 

pending requests. 

(2) DoD Components receiving a 

misdirected FOIA request for records 

originating with another DoD 

Component will refer the FOIA request 

to the correct DoD Component and 

inform the receiving DoD Component of 

the date the FOIA request was originally 

received. Additionally, it will advise the 

FOIA requester of this transfer. This 

routing requirement only applies to 

those FOIA requests directed to a DoD 

Component that seek documents for 

which the DoD is responsible. If 

responsibility for the requested records 

rests with a non-DoD agency (e.g., 

Department of State), then the DoD 

Component need only advise the FOIA 

requester to submit the FOIA request to 

the proper agency. Misdirected FOIA 

requests will not be transferred to a law 

enforcement or Intelligence Community 

agency or DoD Component. Instead, the 

FOIA Requester Service Center 

receiving the request will contact the for 

guidance if there is reason to believe 

that the law enforcement or Intelligence 

Community agency or DoD Component 

would have responsive records. 

(3) DoD Components will provide 

interim responses when they are unable 

to make a final determination within 20 

working days and are encouraged to 

further communicate with the FOIA 

requester before the final response, if 

appropriate. These communications 

may include acknowledging receipt of 

the FOIA request and negotiating with 

the FOIA requester concerning the 

scope of the FOIA request, the response 

timeframe, and fee agreement. However, 

such communications do not constitute 

a final response determination. The 

initial interim response will include as 

a minimum: 

(i) The date the 20-day statutory time 

period started for the FOIA request. 

(ii) The tracking number for the FOIA 

request. 

(iii) Contact information on how the 

FOIA requester can obtain information 

about the processing of the FOIA 

request. 

(4) The statutory time period to make 

a release determination on a FOIA 

request usually begins on the date when 

the FOIA Requester Service Center 

responsible for the requested records 

receives the FOIA request. However, if 

the FOIA request was originally 

misdirected to another FOIA Requester 

Service Center within the same 

Component, the statutory time period 

begins on the day the appropriate DoD 

Component FOIA Requester Service 

Center receives the FOIA request, or 10 

working days after it was received by 

the FOIA Requester Service Center 


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originally receiving the FOIA request, 

whichever date is earlier. When a FOIA 

request is sent directly to a DoD 

Component office not designated to 

receive FOIA requests, the statutory 

time period does not begin until it is 

received by a FOIA Requester Service 

Center. 

(5) The 20-working-day statutory 

period for responding to a FOIA request 

begins only when a perfected FOIA 

request (see § 286.3) is received. After 

this time, a DoD Component FOIA 

Requester Service Center may toll the 

statutory time period for only two 

reasons. In both situations, the FOIA 

requester’s response to the agency’s 

request ends the tolling period. 

(i) The time period may be tolled one 

time when the FOIA Requester Service 

Center goes back to the FOIA requester 

and reasonably asks for additional 

information (not connected to the 

assessment of fees). 

(ii) The time period may be tolled if 

it is necessary for the FOIA Requester 

Service Center to clarify issues 

regarding fee assessment with the FOIA 

requester. There is no limit given for the 

number of times an agency may go back 

to a FOIA requester to clarify fee 

assessment issues, which sometimes 

may need to be done in stages as the 

records are located and processed. 

(c) Estimated completion date. When 

a FOIA Requester Service Center 

receives an inquiry regarding the status 

of a request, it will provide the requester 

an estimated date when the FOIA 

request is expected to be completed. 

(d) Multi-track processing. (1) FOIA 

Requester Service Centers will establish 

a minimum of three processing tracks, 

all based on a first-in and first-out 

concept and with FOIA requests ranked 

by date of receipt. One track is for 

simple FOIA requests, one for complex 

FOIA requests, and one for expedited 

FOIA requests. Additional tracks may be 

established by FOIA Requester Service 

Centers. Each FOIA Requester Service 

Center determines which processing 

track a FOIA request is placed. FOIA 

requesters whose FOIA requests do not 

qualify for the simple processing track 

should be given an opportunity to limit 

the scope of the FOIA request in writing 

in order to qualify for it. 

(2) FOIA Requester Service Centers 

will place received referrals and 

consultations in processing tracks based 

on the date that the FOIA request was 

received by the agency that received the 

initial FOIA request. Separate 

processing queues dedicated only to 

consultations may be established FOIA 

Requester Service Centers. 

(e) Expedited processing. Section 

(a)(6)(E) of the FOIA establishes two 

circumstances that merit expedited 

processing of FOIA requests: 

Compelling need and other cases 

determined by the agency. The same 

criteria apply to FOIA requests for 

expedited processing of administrative 

appeals. The DoD Components must 

make expedited processing 

determinations within 10 calendar days 

after receipt of the FOIA request. Once 

the DoD Component decides to grant 

expedited processing, the FOIA request 

is processed as soon as practicable. 

Actions by the DoD Components to 

initially deny or affirm the initial denial 

on appeal of a FOIA request for 

expedited processing, and failure to 

respond in a timely manner, are subject 

to judicial review. 

(1) Compelling need. Expedited 

processing is granted to a FOIA 

requester upon a specific request for 

such and demonstrations of a 

compelling need (see § 286.3) for the 

information. 

(i) It is the responsibility of the FOIA 

requester to demonstrate that the 

requested information is urgently 

needed. 

(ii) The requester must include with 

the request a demonstration of a 

compelling need that the FOIA 

requester must certify as true and 

correct to the best of the FOIA 

requester’s knowledge and belief. 

(2) Imminent loss of due process 

rights. Expedited processing is granted 

to a FOIA requester if loss of substantial 

due process rights is imminent. A 

demonstration of imminent loss of 

substantial due process rights by the 

FOIA requester includes a description of 

the due process rights that would be lost 

and a statement certified to be true and 

correct to the best of the FOIA 

requester’s knowledge. This statement 

must be with the FOIA request for it to 

be considered and responded to within 

the 10 calendar days required for 

decisions on expedited access. If the 

DoD Component decides to expedite the 

FOIA request for this reason, it may be 

processed in the expedited track behind 

those requests qualifying for compelling 

need. 

(3) Humanitarian need. Expedited 

processing is granted when the failure to 

obtain the requested information on an 

expedited basis could reasonably be 

expected to harm substantial 

humanitarian interests. 

(f) Responsive documents originated 

by a non-government source—(1) 

Commercial or financial information. 

The provisions of E.O. 12600 apply 

when a FOIA request is received for a 

record that arguably contains 

information exempt from release 

pursuant to Exemption 4 of the FOIA as 

set out in § 286.25(d). A government 

contract is an example of this type of 

record. 

(i) The submitter of the confidential 

commercial information must be 

notified promptly of a FOIA request for 

this information and afforded 

reasonable time to present any 

objections concerning release. If the 

submitter does not respond by the 

specified time, he or she will be 

considered to have no objection to the 

disclosure of the information. The 

submitter notice letter should include, 

as an attachment, a copy of the 

requested information. If notification of 

a voluminous number of submitters is 

required, such notification may be done 

by posting or publishing the notice in a 

place that would reasonably fulfill the 

notification requirement. 

(ii) If the submitter objects to 

disclosure, he or she must submit a 

detailed written statement that specifies 

all grounds for withholding any portion 

of the information pursuant to 

Exemption 4 of the FOIA as set out in 

§ 286.25(d). This statement must show 

why the information is a trade secret or 

commercial or financial information 

that is privileged or confidential (i.e., 

release would cause substantial 

competitive harm). Submitter objections 

are evaluated by the DoD Component 

and the final decision to disclose 

information claimed to be exempt 

pursuant to Exemption 4 will be made 

by an appropriate official. 

(iii) When a substantial issue has been 

raised by the submitter, the DoD 

Component may seek additional 

information and afford the submitter a 

reasonable opportunity to present 

arguments on the legal and substantive 

issues involved prior to making an 

agency determination. 

(iv) If a DoD Component decides to 

disclose commercial business 

information over the objection of a 

submitter, the Component must provide 

the submitter written notice, which 

includes: 

(A) A statement of the reasons why 

each of the submitter’s disclosure 

objections were not sustained; 

(B) A copy of the information to be 

disclosed; 

(C) A specified disclosure date, which 

must be a reasonable time after the 

notice. 

(v) The FOIA requester is notified 

when: 

(A) The DoD Component notifies the 

submitter of the FOIA request and asks 

for comments. 

(B) The DoD Component advises the 

submitter that the requested information 

will be released over the submitter’s 

objections. 


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(vi) The submitter is notified 

immediately if the FOIA requester 

brings suit seeking to compel disclosure 

of the submitter’s information. 

(vii) If the submitted information is a 

proposal provided in response to a 

solicitation for a competitive proposal, 

and the proposal is in DoD possession 

and control and meets the requirements 

of 10 U.S.C. 2305(g), the proposal will 

not be disclosed, and no submitter 

notification or analysis are required. 

The proposal must be withheld from 

public disclosure pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 

2305(g) and Exemption 3 of the FOIA as 

set out in § 286.25(c). This statute does 

not apply to bids, unsolicited proposals, 

or any proposal that is set forth or 

incorporated by reference in a contract 

between the DoD Component and the 

submitter of the proposal. In these 

situations, paragraphs (f)(1)(i) through 

(vi) of this section are followed except 

for sealed bids that are opened and read 

to the public. 

(viii) If the record or information was 

submitted on a strictly voluntary basis, 

absent any exercised authority that 

prescribes criteria for submission, and 

the record or information would 

customarily not be released to the 

public, the submitter need not be 

notified. The DoD Component 

withholds this information pursuant to 

Exemption 4 of the FOIA as set out in 

§ 286.25(d). 

(ix) In anticipation of future FOIA 

requests, the DoD Components may 

establish procedures whereby 

submitters are asked to provide their 

written comments on the releasability of 

the submitted information at the time 

the information is submitted. However, 

this procedure does not alleviate the 

DoD Components of the responsibility 

of evaluating the submitter’s response 

before the information is released or 

denied pursuant to the FOIA. 

(2) Foreign government or 

international organization information. 

The coordination provisions of this 

paragraph (f)(2) apply to the release of 

responsive information received from 

foreign governments or international 

organizations, such as the North 

Atlantic Treaty Organization, United 

Nations Commands, the North 

American Aerospace Defense Command 

(NORAD), the Inter-American Defense 

Board, or the International Committee of 

the Red Cross. 

(i) DoD Components should 

coordinate directly with their foreign 

government counterparts when 

processing foreign government 

information responsive to a FOIA 

request. Coordination also may be made 

through the Department of State or the 

specific foreign embassy. 

(ii) The Office of Freedom of 

Information (OFOI), which is also the 

OSD/Joint Staff FOIA Requester Service 

Center, has a coordination channel with 

the United Kingdom Ministry of 

Defence (UK MOD). (See the Appendix 

A to this part for the OSD/Joint Staff 

FOIA Requester Service Center address.) 

When a DoD Component locates UK 

MOD-originated information responsive 

to a FOIA request and it is unable to 

coordinate with a UK MOD counterpart 

it may forward the information to OFOI 

for consultation, which will coordinate 

with the UK MOD for release. The UK 

MOD release recommendation will be 

forwarded by OFOI back to the DoD 

Component for direct response to the 

FOIA requester. 

(iii) When the DoD Components 

locate NORAD documents in their files 

responsive to a FOIA request, they will 

refer the documents to the United States 

Northern Command FOIA Requester 

Service Center, which will consult with 

NORAD. 

(iv) Coordination with most 

international organizations may be 

made directly with those organizations. 

(v) When a foreign government or 

international organization asks the 

Department of Defense to withhold 

classified information originated by that 

foreign government or international 

organization, it is withheld pursuant to 

Exemption 1 of the FOIA as set out in 

§ 286.25(a). 

(vi) If the DoD Component is asked to 

withhold sensitive unclassified 

information originated by a 

multinational organization or foreign 

government, then the DoD Component 

withholds it pursuant to Exemption 3 of 

the FOIA as set out in § 286.25(c) and 

references the relevant statute as 10 

U.S.C. 130c. To qualify for withholding, 

the information must meet these 

limitations. 

(A) If the information came into 

possession or control of the Department 

of Defense prior to October 30, 2000, 

and more than 25 years prior to receipt 

of the FOIA request, the DoD 

Component notifies the foreign 

government or international 

organization of the request for 

disclosure. The information then 

qualifies for withholding only if the 

foreign government or international 

organization requests in writing that the 

information not be disclosed for a 

specific period of time. This date can be 

extended with a later request by the 

foreign government or international 

organization. 

(B) If the information came into 

possession or control of the Department 

of Defense on or after October 30, 2000, 

the information cannot be withheld after 

the release date specified by the foreign 

government or international 

organization. When one or more foreign 

governments or international 

organizations provided the information, 

the latest date specified by any of them 

will be used. If no release date was 

specified, and the information came into 

the possession of the DoD Component 

more than 10 years prior to receipt of 

the FOIA request, the procedures set 

forth in paragraph (f)(2)(vi)(A) of this 

section apply. 

(g) File of initial denials. Copies of all 

initial denials are maintained by each 

DoD Component in a form suitable for 

rapid retrieval, periodic statistical 

compilation, and management 

evaluation. Records denied for any of 

the reasons contained in § 286.25 must 

be maintained for a period of 6 years to 

meet the statute of limitations 

requirement. 

(h) Processing the receipt of FOIA 

fees. The Treasurer of the United States 

has established an account for FOIA 

receipts, Receipt Account 3210. When 

depositing the receipts, the account 

number must be preceded by the 

appropriate disbursing office 2-digit 

prefix. This account will be used for 

depositing all FOIA receipts except for 

those of working capital and nonappropriated funded activities. Those 

activities must establish their own 

procedures for depositing FOIA receipts 

to the applicable fund. All checks or 

money orders remitting FOIA fees 

should be made payable to the U.S. 

Treasurer. For more information on 

technical data fees, see § 286.34. 

(i) Creating a record. A record must 

exist and be in DoD possession and 

control at the time of the search to be 

subject to this part and the FOIA. The 

DoD Components are not obligated to 

create, compile, or answer questions to 

satisfy a FOIA request. However, the 

DoD Components may compile a new 

record when so doing would result in a 

more useful response to the FOIA 

requester or would be less burdensome 

to the DoD Component than providing 

existing records. This could be the case 

when a FOIA requester wants, for 

example, a list of all travel locations for 

a single senior official. Instead of 

processing the large number travel 

documents, the DoD Component may 

wish to compile a list of travel locations 

extracted from the documents. Any such 

compilation should be coordinated with 

and approved by the FOIA requester. 

The cost of creating or compiling such 

a record may not be charged to the FOIA 

requester unless the fee for creating the 

record is equal to or less than the fee 

that would be charged for providing the 

existing record. Fee assessments must 


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be in accordance with subpart F of this 

part. 

(j) Electronic records and searches— 

(1) Significant interference. Section 

(a)(3)(C) of the FOIA allows DoD 

Components to not conduct a search for 

responsive documents if the search 

would cause significant interference 

with the operation of the DoD 

Component’s automated information 

system. 

(2) Business as usual approach. A 

‘‘business as usual’’ approach exists 

when the DoD Component has the 

capability to process a FOIA request for 

electronic records without a significant 

expenditure of monetary or personnel 

resources. DoD Components are not 

required to conduct a search that does 

not meet this business as usual 

criterion. 

(i) Creating computer programs or 

purchasing additional hardware to 

extract email that has been archived for 

emergency retrieval usually are not 

considered business as usual if 

extensive monetary or personnel 

resources are needed to complete the 

project. 

(ii) Creating a computer program that 

produces specific requested fields or 

records contained within a well-defined 

database structure usually is considered 

business as usual. The time to create 

this program is considered as 

programmer or operator search time for 

fee assessment purposes and the FOIA 

requester may be assessed fees in 

accordance with subpart F of this part. 

However, creating a computer program 

to merge files with disparate data 

formats and extract specific elements 

from the resultant file is not considered 

business as usual, but a special service. 

(3) Data links. The DoD Components 

are not required to expend DoD funds to 

establish data links that provide realtime or near-real-time data to a FOIA 

requester. 

(k) CISI and MFOQA data files. IDAs 

may deny CISI and MFOQA system data 

files from release under Exemption 3 of 

the FOIA as set out in § 286.25(c) after 

the DA&M has made a written 

determination that the information is 

exempt. 

(1) When DoD Components have 

reason to believe that information 

responsive to a FOIA request is CISI or 

MFOQA system data file information, 

they will submit a package to the 

DA&M, through DFOIPO, 

recommending exemption of the 

requested information. The package will 

contain, at a minimum: 

(i) A copy of the initial FOIA request. 

(ii) A copy of the documents in 

electronic format, with only the CISI or 

MFOQA system data file information 

marked. Do not indicate information 

that will be denied under any other 

exemption. 

(iii) Details on how the information 

recommended for exemption meets the 

threshold of qualifying as CISI or as 

MFOQA system data file. 

(iv) A thorough explanation of the 

harm that could reasonably be expected 

to result if the information is released. 

This explanation must be as specific as 

possible to allow the DA&M to make a 

fully informed determination; however, 

it should contain only publicly 

releasable information since the 

DA&M’s determination, accompanied by 

a statement of the basis for 

determination, will be made available 

on the DFOIPO Web site. An 

explanation could be an attachment 

from a subject matter expert; 

(v) Any documentation of the public 

interest in the release of the 

information. This could be provided to 

the DoD Component by the FOIA 

requester or other interested parties 

supporting the FOIA request. 

(2) Upon receipt of the package, 

DFOIPO will: 

(i) Review it to determine whether the 

DoD Component’s recommendations 

meet the requirements of the FOIA and 

the applicable Exemption 3 of the FOIA 

as set out in § 286.25(c) statute(s). 

(ii) Contact the FOIA requester 

advising him or her that the Component 

is asking the DA&M to exempt 

information responsive to his or her 

FOIA request. The FOIA requester will 

be provided with an opportunity to 

provide a statement to the DA&M 

detailing the public interest in the 

release of the information. The FOIA 

requester also will be advised that this 

statement will be made available to the 

public (without personally identifying 

information such as a home mailing 

address) as part of the requirement to 

make publicly available the statement of 

the basis for the determination. 

(iii) Prepare all documentation for 

review by selected OSD Components 

and the Office of the General Counsel of 

the Department of Defense (OGC, DoD). 

The package will be returned to the 

Component for further processing and 

resubmission should any deficiencies be 

identified. 

(iv) Upon complete review, forward 

the package to the DA&M for 

determination. 

(3) After the DA&M determination is 

made, DFOIPO will provide it to the 

DoD Component and post it, along with 

a statement of the basis for 

determination, on its Web site. The DoD 

Component will then deny the 

information determined to be exempt by 

the DA&M by providing a copy of the 

determination to the FOIA requester, 

advising the FOIA requester of the DoD 

Component’s IDA (the DA&M should 

not be indicated as the IDA), and 

advising the FOIA requester of the right 

to appeal to the DoD Component’s 

appellate authority. 

§ 286.29 Initial determinations. 

(a) Denials of information. (1) The 

determination whether to withhold 

information responsive to a FOIA 

request must be made by an IDA. In 

designating IDAs, the DoD Component 

will balance the goals of centralization 

of authority to promote uniform 

decisions, and of decentralization to 

facilitate responding to each FOIA 

request within the time limitations of 

the FOIA. The IDA will review all 

withheld information to determine 

whether it meets the criteria for 

withholding pursuant to one or more of 

the FOIA exemptions. This 

determination may be made upon the 

recommendation of a review official. 

(2) IDAs and review officials will not 

use the existence of classification 

markings or distribution limiting 

statements, such as ‘‘For Official Use 

Only’’ markings, as justification to 

withhold information. Information so 

marked must be reviewed after the 

receipt of a FOIA request to determine 

if a FOIA exemption allows the 

withholding of the information. 

(3) To deny information in a 

requested record that is in the 

possession and control of the DoD 

Component, the IDA must determine 

that one or more of the FOIA 

exemptions justify withholding all or 

part of the record. 

(4) The IDA should consult with 

PAOs to become familiar with subject 

matter that is considered to be 

newsworthy, and advise PAOs of FOIA 

requests from news media 

representatives. The IDA also should 

inform PAOs in advance when they 

intend to withhold or partially withhold 

a record if it appears the withholding 

action may be a media issue. 

(b) Reasons for denying a FOIA 

request other than exemptions. The 

following are reasons, other than using 

one or more exemptions, for denying a 

FOIA request. The DoD Components 

will track each reason in its control 

system database for ease of retrieval and 

reporting in the Annual FOIA Report. 

(1) Partial or total denial. The record 

is denied in whole or in part in 

accordance with procedures set forth in 

the FOIA. A Glomar response (see 

§ 286.12(e)) is a total denial. 

(2) No records. A reasonable search of 

files failed to identify responsive 

records or where no search is 


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undertaken because the DoD 

Component determines that no records 

responsive to the request would be 

located. 

(3) Referrals. All responsive records 

have been transferred to another DoD 

Component or federal agency. 

(4) Request withdrawn. The FOIA 

request is withdrawn by the FOIA 

requester. 

(5) Fee-related reason. The FOIA 

requester is unwilling to pay fees 

associated with a FOIA request; the 

FOIA requester is past due in the 

payment of fees from a previous FOIA 

request; or the FOIA requester disagrees 

with the fee estimate. 

(6) Records not reasonably described. 

A record has not been described with 

sufficient particularity to enable the 

DoD Component to locate it by 

conducting a reasonable search. 

(7) Not a proper FOIA request for 

some other reason. The FOIA requester 

has failed unreasonably to comply with 

procedural requirements, other than feerelated requirements, imposed by this 

part or by DoD Component 

supplementing regulations. This would 

include not having a return mailing 

address. 

(8) Not an agency record. The 

information requested is not a record 

within the meaning of the FOIA and this 

part. 

(9) Duplicate request. The FOIA 

request is a duplicate request (e.g., a 

FOIA requester asks for the same 

information more than once). This 

includes identical requests received 

from the same requester for the same 

information through different means 

(e.g., email, facsimile, mail, courier) at 

the same or different times. 

(10) Other. Any other reason why 

requested records are not provided other 

than those outlined in paragraphs (b)(1) 

through (9) of this section. The reasons 

the DoD Components will use are: 

(i) Misdirected request. 

(ii) Records publicly available. 

Records are available on a U.S. 

government Internet Web site (for FOIA 

requesters with Internet access) or at 

some other government agency (e.g., the 

Government Printing Office or the 

National Technical Information 

Service). 

(iii) Litigation. The FOIA request is 

administratively closed because the 

FOIA requester has filed a complaint in 

federal court. If this is the case, the DoD 

Component FOIA Requester Service 

Center should consult legal counsel to 

determine whether they should 

continue processing the FOIA request. 

(iv) Administrative. The FOIA request 

is closed for any reason not covered by 

this subsection (e.g. the FOIA requester 

moves and leave no forwarding 

address). The DoD Components should 

use this reason in very few cases. 

(c) Responding to FOIA requesters. 

All correspondence with FOIA 

requesters must include the FOIA 

request tracking number. 

(1) When a decision is made to release 

a record, a copy should be made 

available promptly to the FOIA 

requester. 

(2) When a FOIA request for a record 

is denied in whole or in part, the official 

designated to respond will provide the 

FOIA requester in writing an 

explanation of the substantive basis for 

denial, including specific citation of the 

statutory exemption applied (e.g., 

section (b)(1) of the FOIA), a brief 

explanation of the exemption, why it is 

being used to withhold information, and 

the address where the appeal should be 

mailed. The basis for the determination 

will be in sufficient detail to permit the 

FOIA requester to make a decision 

concerning an appeal. If the IDA does 

not sign the response letter, the name 

and duty title of the IDA must be 

specified in the letter. The official also 

will advise the FOIA requester that any 

appeal to the adverse determination 

must be postmarked no later than 30 

calendar days after the date of the initial 

denial letter. 

(3) The DoD Component will make a 

reasonable effort to estimate the volume 

of the records denied in their entirety 

and provide this estimate to the FOIA 

requester, unless providing such an 

estimate would harm an interest 

protected by a FOIA exemption. This 

estimate should be in number of pages 

or in some other reasonable form of 

estimation. 

(4) When a denial is based on a statute 

qualifying as a FOIA Exemption 3 of the 

FOIA as set out in § 286.25(c) statute, 

the DoD Components must state the 

particular statute relied upon to deny 

the information along with a short 

description of the statute. 

(5) When a FOIA requester is assessed 

fees for processing a FOIA request, the 

FOIA requester’s fee category will be 

specified in the final response letter. 

The DoD Components also will provide 

the FOIA requester with a complete cost 

breakdown (e.g., 15 pages of office 

reproduction at $0.15 per page; 3 hours 

of professional level search at $56.00 

per hour) in the response letter. 

(d) Providing documents to FOIA 

requesters. This paragraph (d) applies 

when a FOIA requester is provided with 

documents in which some information 

is withheld. 

(1) Although portions of some records 

may be denied, the remaining 

reasonably segregable non-exempt 

portions must be released to the FOIA 

requester. The DoD Components are 

encouraged to use onscreen electronic 

redaction capabilities when redacting 

documents. If a DoD Component does 

not have this capability, it must not use 

black magic markers for document 

redaction because their use does not 

adequately block the exempt 

information. Acceptable manual 

methods of redaction include black or 

white tape that completely blocks out 

the information below it or manually 

cutting the exempt information out of a 

copy of the responsive document. The 

last step when using a manual redaction 

method is making a photocopy of the 

final product to verify that all exempt 

information is deleted. 

(2) The amount of deleted information 

must be indicated on the released 

portion of paper records, or electronic 

copies of paper records, by use of 

brackets or darkened areas. In no case 

will the deleted areas be left ‘‘white’’ 

without the use of brackets to show the 

bounds of deleted information. In the 

case of electronic deletion or deletion in 

audiovisual or microfiche records, if 

technically feasible, the amount of 

redacted information will be indicated 

at the place in the record such deletion 

was made. 

(3) When a DoD Component 

withholds information within a partially 

releasable document, the exemption 

pursuant to which a withholding is 

made must be indicated on the 

document. This marking of the 

exemption will be located within the 

redacted portion or next to it. Figures 1, 

2, and 3 of this section demonstrate 

several possible approaches to marking 

documents to specify the exemption 

being asserted. 

(4) An exception to this requirement 

to indicate the amount and location of 

redacted information pertains to those 

instances when revealing the amount 

and location of the redacted information 

would harm an interest protected by the 

asserted exemption(s). This exception 

includes the situation in which 

revealing the exemption itself on the 

face of the released-in-part document 

would harm an interest protected by the 

exemption. In such rare circumstances, 

the DoD Components need not indicate 

the exemption used on the released 

document. 

BILLING CODE 5001–06–P 


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BILLING CODE 5001–06–C 

(e) Commercial delivery services. A 

commercial delivery service may be 

used if FOIA requester asks for the 

service to receive the requested 

information in a timelier manner and 

the FOIA requester pays directly for the 

service. 

§ 286.30 Referrals and consultations. 

Referral and consultation procedures 

are based upon the concept that the 

originators of information within a 

record must make release 

determinations on that information. 

(a) Referrals. (1) DoD Components 

locating responsive documents 

originating with another DoD 

Component or agency outside the DoD 

will refer the documents, along with a 

copy of the FOIA request, to the 

originator for response directly to the 

FOIA requester. The DoD Components 

referring FOIA requests will include 

point of contact’s name, telephone 

number, and an email address in the 

cover memorandum. 

(2) If the DoD Component locating the 

record has an equity interest in the 

document, it will provide an opinion on 

its releasability with the referral. The 

name and duty title of the IDA 

responsible for the decision to withhold 

the information will be provided. 

(3) Referrals of records will not be 

made to non-federal agency entities 

(e.g., a city government). In these cases, 

the non-federal agency entity may be 

consulted for a release recommendation 

(e.g., a foreign government or 

international organization (see 

paragraph § 286.28 (e)(2)); however, 

response to the FOIA requester remains 

the responsibility of the DoD 

Component locating the record. 


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(4) The standard referral procedure is 

not appropriate where disclosure of the 

identity of the DoD Component or 

agency to which the referral would be 

made could harm an interest protected 

by an applicable exemption, such as the 

exemptions that protect personal 

privacy and national security interests. 

For example, if a non-law enforcement 

DoD Component responding to a request 

for records on a living third party 

locates within its files records 

originating with a law enforcement 

agency, and if the existence of that law 

enforcement interest in the third party 

was not publicly known, then to 

disclose that law enforcement interest 

could cause an unwarranted invasion of 

the personal privacy of the third party. 

Similarly, if a DoD Component locates 

material originating with an Intelligence 

Community agency, and the 

involvement of that agency in the matter 

is classified, then to disclose or give 

attribution to the involvement of that 

Intelligence Community agency could 

cause national security harms. In all 

instances when records originating with 

a law enforcement or Intelligence 

Community agency are located, in order 

to avoid harm to an interest protected by 

an applicable exemption, the DoD 

Component locating the records should 

contact the originating DoD component 

or agency to seek its views on the 

disclosability of the records. The 

originating DoD Component or agency 

will then direct the DoD Component 

locating the records on the procedures 

that should be followed. These 

procedures may involve referring the 

records or conveying the release 

determination of the originating entity 

without attribution. 

(5) DoD Components will inform 

FOIA requesters of all referrals except in 

the instances described in § 286.30(a)(3). 

DoD Components receiving referrals 

will advise FOIA requesters of the date 

of receipt, the tracking number for the 

FOIA request, and contact information 

on how the FOIA requester can obtain 

information about the processing of the 

FOIA request. 

(6) An exception to this process is 

when a DoD Component locates 

responsive records that it created solely 

for the use of another DoD Component 

or agency, and it has no objections to 

their release. The originating DoD 

Component will refer the record to the 

other DoD Component or agency for a 

release determination and direct 

response to the FOIA requester, who 

will be notified of the referral. An 

common example of this exception is 

contract audits created by the Defense 

Contract Audit Agency for another DoD 

Component. 

(b) Consultations. When a DoD 

Component locates a responsive record 

that it originated and determines that 

another DoD Component or an agency 

outside the Department of Defense has 

an interest or equity in the record, the 

DoD Component must consult with the 

other entity and obtain its release 

recommendation. The consulted entity 

will provide its release recommendation 

back to the originating DoD Component, 

which will then respond to the FOIA 

requester. The FOIA requester should 

not be advised of this consultation 

unless information is withheld by the 

consulted agency. DoD Components 

seeking a release determination by 

consulting with another agency will 

keep the FOIA request open until it 

responds to the FOIA requester. 

(c) Processing tracks. The DoD 

Components that receive referrals or 

consultations must process them in 

their multi-track processing systems, 

based upon the date of initial receipt of 

the perfected FOIA request by the 

government. 

(d) White House information. DoD 

Components locating records originating 

with the National Security Staff (NSS), 

the White House, or the White House 

Military Office (WHMO), or containing 

information that these agencies would 

have an equity interest, will forward the 

records to OFOI, which serves as the 

OSD/Joint Staff FOIA Requester Service 

Center. (See Appendix A to this part for 

the OSD/Joint Staff FOIA Requester 

Service Center address.) OFOI will 

coordinate with NSS, the White House, 

or WHMO and return the records to the 

originating agency after coordination for 

response to the FOIA requester. 

(e) Government Accountability Office 

(GAO) information. The GAO is outside 

the Executive Branch and not subject to 

the FOIA. FOIA requests for GAO 

documents within DoD files will be 

processed pursuant to the FOIA. If 

necessary, the DoD Components will 

consult with the GAO on the 

releasability of the requested 

information. The final response will be 

made by the DoD Component. 

§ 286.31 Appeals. 

(a) General. When an IDA makes an 

adverse determination, the DoD 

Components must advise the FOIA 

requester that the decision may be 

appealed in writing to a designated 

appellate authority. The DoD 

Components will further advise the 

FOIA requester that copies of the initial 

FOIA request and the denial letter 

should be submitted with the appeal. 

(b) FOIA and Privacy Act appeals. 

When denials have been made pursuant 

to the Privacy Act and the FOIA, and 

the denied information is in a Privacy 

Act system of records, appeals will be 

processed pursuant to the Privacy Act 

and the FOIA. If the denied information 

is not maintained in a Privacy Act 

system of records, the appeal will be 

processed pursuant to the FOIA. 

(c) Time of receipt. A FOIA appeal has 

been received by the DoD Component 

when it reaches the office of the 

appellate authority having jurisdiction. 

Misdirected appeals should be referred 

to the proper appellate authority. 

(d) Time Limits. (1) If the FOIA 

requester submits an appeal after the 

conclusion of the 30-day time period 

established by the date of the initial 

denial letter, the appeal may be 

considered untimely and closed for that 

reason. However, the DoD Components 

may make exceptions on a case-by-case 

basis. When a FOIA requester is 

provided several incremental 

determinations for a single FOIA 

request, the 30-day time period for the 

appeal will not begin until the date of 

the final response. 

(2) Final determinations on appeals 

should be made within 20 working days 

after receipt. When the DoD Component 

has a significant number of appeals 

preventing a response determination 

within 20 working days, the appeals 

must be processed in a multi-track 

system based at a minimum on the three 

processing tracks established for initial 

FOIA requests according to § 286.29. 

(e) Delay in responding to an appeal. 

If a determination cannot be made 

within 20 working days, the appellate 

authority or the appellate authority’s 

representative will acknowledge to the 

FOIA requester, in writing, the date of 

receipt of the appeal and the 

circumstances surrounding the delay. 

(f) Response to FOIA requester. (1) 

When an appellate authority makes a 

final determination to release all or 

portions of records withheld by an IDA, 

a written response and a copy of the 

records so released will be forwarded 

promptly to the FOIA requester. If the 

FOIA requester owes outstanding fees 

from the initial FOIA request, and these 

fees were not appealed, the appellate 

authority will advise the FOIA requester 

that the appeal will be administratively 

closed until the owed fees are received. 

The final appellate response will not be 

made until the fees are paid. 

(2) Final denial of an appeal must be 

made in writing and signed by the 

appellate authority. The response must 

include: 

(i) The basis for the denial, to include 

an explanation of the applicable 

statutory exemption or exemptions 

invoked pursuant to the FOIA, and of 


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other appeal matters set forth in 

§ 286.19. 

(ii) A determination that the denied 

information meets the cited criteria and 

rationale of the governing Executive 

order if the final refusal is based in 

whole or in part on Exemption 1 of the 

FOIA as set out in § 286.25(a). 

(iii) A statement that the information 

being denied does not contain 

meaningful portions that are reasonably 

segregable in the case of appeals for 

total denial of records. 

(iv) The FOIA requester’s right to 

judicial review. 

(3) The appeal is closed with the final 

appellate response. 

(g) Consultation with the Office of the 

General Counsel (OGC), DoD. (1) Final 

denial of access involving issues not 

previously resolved or that the DoD 

Component knows to be inconsistent 

with rulings of other DoD Components 

ordinarily should not be made before 

consultation with OGC, DoD. 

(2) Tentative decisions to deny 

records that raise new or significant 

legal issues of potential significance to 

other government agencies must be 

discussed with OGC, DoD. 

§ 286.32 FOIA litigation. 

(a) General. FOIA requesters may seek 

an order from a U.S. District Court to 

compel release of information after 

administrative remedies have been 

exhausted; e.g., when the FOIA 

requester has filed an administrative 

appeal of an adverse action, or when the 

DoD Component has failed to respond 

within the time limits prescribed by the 

FOIA. The U.S. Department of Justice, 

‘‘Freedom of Information Act Guide’’ 

provides more detailed guidance on 

FOIA litigation. 

(1) If a DoD Component is served a 

complaint for a FOIA request that is still 

open, the DoD Component will 

administratively close the FOIA request. 

(2) FOIA officers should confer with 

legal counsel or Department of Justice 

attorneys on whether administrative 

processing should continue and 

whether it is appropriate to 

communicate directly with the FOIA 

requester or requester’s counsel. 

(b) Non-government source 

information (commercial and financial 

information withheld pursuant to 

Exemption 4 of the FOIA as set out in 

§ 286.25(d)). A FOIA requester may 

bring suit in a U.S. District Court to 

compel the release of records obtained 

from a submitter or records based on 

information obtained from a submitter. 

The submitter must be notified 

promptly of the court action pursuant to 

Executive Order 12600. 

(c) FOIA litigation notification. DoD 

Components served directly with a 

complaint is filed in a U.S. District 

Court pursuant to the FOIA will 

immediately forward copies of the 

complaint to OGC, DoD and DFOIPO. 

Subpart F—Fee Schedule 

§ 286.33 General provisions. 

(a) Application. (1) The fees described 

in this section apply to FOIA requests 

submitted pursuant to 32 CFR part 285, 

and conform to the Federal Register, 

Volume 52, pages 10012–10020. 

(2) The fees are not meant to 

substitute for any other charges 

established by the Department of 

Defense, such as Volume 11a of DoD 

7000.14–R (available at http://www.

defenselink.mil/comptroller/fmr/), to 

recoup direct costs of authorized 

services provided by the DoD 

Components that are not FOIA related. 

(3) This section does not supersede 

fees chargeable pursuant to a statute 

specifically providing for setting the 

level of fees for particular types of 

records, such as the Government 

Printing Office, the National Technical 

Information Service, or the Defense 

Logistics Information Service. The DoD 

Components will inform FOIA 

requesters of the steps necessary to 

obtain records from those sources if they 

are requested. 

(b) Fee assessment. (1) Fees may not 

be used to discourage FOIA requesters. 

Assessable FOIA fees are limited to 

standard charges for direct search, 

review (in the case of commercial 

requesters), and duplication. 

(2) Fees are assessed based on the 

category determined to be appropriate 

for the FOIA requester’s status. The fee 

status of a FOIA requester who is an 

attorney representing a client is 

determined by the fee status of the 

attorney’s client. If the fee status of the 

client is not clear, then the DoD 

Components should ask the FOIA 

requester for clarification. The attorney 

does not need to reveal the identity of 

the client, only the client’s fee status. If 

the attorney does not provide enough 

information to determine the fee status, 

then the DoD Component may assign 

commercial fee status to the FOIA 

requester. 

(3) FOIA requests should contain a 

willingness to pay fees appropriate to 

that category. The DoD Components will 

not require a willingness to pay fees if 

it is determined before processing, 

based on what is requested and the 

FOIA requester’s fee category, that fees 

will not be assessed. In those instances 

where a FOIA requester asks for a fee 

waiver, in order to facilitate the 

processing of the request FOIA 

requesters are encouraged to provide a 

willingness to pay fees in the event the 

fee waiver is denied. This commitment 

does not impact the FOIA requester’s 

right to file an appeal concerning the fee 

waiver denial. The categories are: 

(i) Commercial use. FOIA requesters 

should indicate a willingness to pay all 

search, review, and duplication costs 

when the records are requested for 

commercial use. Commercial requesters 

are not entitled to 2 hours of free search 

time and 100 free pages of reproduction. 

(A) In determining whether a FOIA 

requester properly belongs in this 

category, the DoD Components must 

determine how a FOIA requester will 

use the documents requested. When a 

DoD Component has reasonable cause to 

doubt the use of the records sought, or 

when that use is not clear from the 

FOIA request itself, the Component 

should seek additional clarification 

from the FOIA requester before 

assigning the FOIA request to a specific 

category. 

(B) Commercial requesters are not 

entitled to a waiver or reduction of fees 

based on an assertion that disclosure 

would be in the public interest. 

However, because use is the exclusive 

determining criterion, it is possible that 

a commercial enterprise may make a 

FOIA request that is not for commercial 

use. It is also possible that a non-profit 

organization or a representative of the 

news media could make a FOIA request 

that is for commercial use (e.g., a 

magazine publisher asking for duty 

addresses of DoD personnel to solicit 

them to buy subscriptions to the 

magazine). Such situations must be 

addressed on a case-by-case basis. 

(ii) Educational, noncommercial 

scientific institution, or news media. 

FOIA requesters should indicate a 

willingness to pay duplication charges 

in excess of 100 pages if more than 100 

pages of records are desired. 

(A) Educational institution. Fees are 

limited to only reasonable standard 

charges for document duplication 

(excluding charges for the first 100 

pages) when the FOIA request is made 

by an educational institution whose 

purpose is scholarly research. Fees are 

waived or reduced in the public interest 

if the fee waiver criteria are met. A 

FOIA request made by a faculty or staff 

member or a student of an educational 

institution that serves an individual 

research goal and not a scholarly 

research goal of the institution would 

not qualify for this fee category. For 

example, a FOIA request from a student 

or faculty member of a law school for 

records related to a person that the 

school is also representing in court 


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would not qualify as a FOIA request 

from an educational institution. 

(B) Non-commercial scientific 

institution. Fees are limited to only 

reasonable standard charges for 

document duplication (excluding 

charges for the first 100 pages) when the 

FOIA request is made by a noncommercial scientific institution whose 

purpose is scientific research. Fees are 

waived or reduced in the public interest 

if the fee waiver criteria are met. 

(C) Representatives of the news 

media. Fees are limited to only 

reasonable standard charges for 

document duplication (excluding 

charges for the first 100 pages). Fees are 

waived or reduced if the fee waiver 

criteria are met. 

(1) Examples of news media entities 

include television or radio stations 

broadcasting to the public at large and 

publishers of periodicals (but only in 

those instances when they can qualify 

as disseminators of news) who make 

their products available for purchase or 

subscription by the general public. 

These examples are not meant to be allinclusive. Moreover, as traditional 

methods of news delivery evolve (e.g., 

electronic dissemination of newspapers 

through telecommunications services 

and the Internet), the DoD Components 

will include such alternative media in 

this category. 

(2) Freelance journalists may be 

regarded as working for a news 

organization if they can demonstrate a 

solid basis for expecting publication 

through that organization, even though 

not actually employed by it. A 

publication contract would be the 

clearest proof, but the DoD Components 

may also look to the past publication 

record of a FOIA requester in making 

this determination. 

(3) Representatives of the news media 

do not include private libraries, private 

repositories of government records, 

information vendors, data brokers, or 

similar marketers of information, 

whether to industries and businesses or 

other entities. 

(4) A person or entity that merely 

disseminates documents received 

pursuant to the FOIA to an audience 

would not qualify as a representative of 

the news media because, in this case, 

the person or entity is not using 

editorial skills to turn raw materials into 

a distinct work. Additionally, applying 

a label such as ‘‘reporter’’ to a person on 

staff of an organization that not 

otherwise meet the definition of a 

representative of the news media does 

not create media status for FOIA 

purposes. 

(iii) All others. FOIA requesters who 

do not fit into any of the previous 

categories should indicate a willingness 

to pay assessable search and duplication 

costs if more than 2 hours of search 

effort or 100 pages of records are 

required. Fees are waived or reduced if 

the fee waiver criteria are met. 

(4) The fee provisions of 32 CFR part 

310 apply when FOIA requesters ask for 

information about themselves pursuant 

to the Privacy Act. In these cases, the 

only assessable processing fees are for 

duplication. 

(5) In order to be as responsive as 

possible to FOIA requests while 

minimizing unwarranted costs to the 

taxpayer, the DoD Components will 

analyze each FOIA request to determine 

the category of the FOIA requester. If the 

DoD Component determination 

regarding the category of the FOIA 

requester is different than that claimed, 

the Component must: 

(i) Notify the FOIA requester to 

provide additional justification to 

warrant the category claimed, and that 

a search for responsive records will not 

begin until an agreement has been 

attained relative to the category of the 

FOIA requester and the FOIA requester 

indicates a willingness to pay assessable 

costs appropriate for the category 

determined by the DoD Component. The 

statutory time limit will be tolled with 

this notification and will not continue 

until the DoD Component receives a 

response from the FOIA requester. 

(ii) Absent further category 

justification from the FOIA requester 

and within a reasonable period of time, 

render a final category determination 

and notify the FOIA requester of such 

determination, to include administrative 

appeal rights of the determination. 

(6) The DoD Components must be 

prepared to provide an estimate of 

assessable fees if desired by the FOIA 

requester. While it is recognized that 

search situations will vary among the 

DoD Components and that an estimate 

is often difficult to obtain prior to an 

actual search, FOIA requesters who 

desire estimates are entitled to such 

before committing to a willingness to 

pay. 

(i) If determining a fee estimate 

involves searching for responsive 

documents, the time to conduct the 

search is considered ‘‘search’’ time for 

fee assessment purposes. 

(ii) Should the DoD Components’ 

actual costs exceed the amount of the 

estimate or the amount agreed to by the 

FOIA requester, the amount in excess of 

the estimate or the requester’s agreed 

amount will not be charged without the 

FOIA requester’s agreement. 

(7) The DoD Components usually will 

not require advance payment of any fee 

(i.e., payment before work is started or 

continued on a FOIA request). The DoD 

Components may require advance 

payment if: 

(i) The FOIA requester has a history 

of failing to pay fees in a timely fashion 

(within 30 days of the billing date) on 

a previous FOIA request; or 

(ii) The DoD Component determines 

that the fee will exceed $250. 

(8) When the DoD Component 

estimates that allowable charges for a 

FOIA request may exceed $250, the DoD 

Component will notify the FOIA 

requester of the likely cost and obtain a 

satisfactory assurance of full payment. 

The DoD Component may ask for an 

advance payment of an amount up to 

the full estimated charges for FOIA 

requesters with no history of payment or 

a history of late payments. 

(9) When a FOIA requester has an 

outstanding overdue debt with any DoD 

Component or federal agency, the DoD 

Component may administratively close 

all the FOIA requester’s requests after 

giving notice to the FOIA requester. The 

FOIA requester will be advised that any 

administratively closed requests may be 

resubmitted once the full amount owed, 

plus any applicable interest, is paid. 

Interest will be at the rate prescribed in 

31 U.S.C. 3717 (also known and referred 

to in this part as the ‘‘Debt Collection 

Act of 1982’’), and confirmed with the 

applicable finance and accounting 

offices. 

(10) When the DoD Components 

dispute a requester’s fee category 

assertion, the administrative time limits 

of the FOIA will begin only after the 

DoD Component has received a 

confirmation of willingness to pay fees 

and satisfaction as to category 

determination, or fee payments (if 

appropriate). 

(11) The DoD Components may charge 

for time spent searching for records, 

even if that search fails to locate records 

responsive to the FOIA request. The 

DoD Components may also charge 

search and review time (in the case of 

commercial requesters) even if the 

records located are determined to be 

exempt from disclosure. 

(12) If the DoD Component estimates 

that processing charges are likely to 

exceed what the FOIA requester is 

willing to pay, it will notify the FOIA 

requester of the estimate of fees broken 

down by search, review, and 

duplication. This notice will offer the 

FOIA requester the opportunity to 

confer with DoD Component personnel 

with the object of reformulating the 

FOIA request to meet his or her needs 

at a lower cost. The FOIA request is not 

perfected until a confirmation of 

willingness to pay all assessable fees is 

received. 


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(13) The DoD Components may 

establish a minimum willingness to pay 

fee estimates for commercial requesters 

seeking contract-related documents. 

Such estimates will be the average of the 

previous three fiscal years of actual fees 

charged to commercial requesters 

seeking contract-related documents for 

the DoD Component, and will be revised 

annually. The DoD Components will 

notify the public of the minimum fee 

estimate by publishing it within its 

FOIA issuances or on DoD Component 

FOIA Requester Service Center Internet 

Web sites. FOIA requests from 

commercial requesters seeking contractrelated documents not containing a 

willingness to pay fee agreement equal 

to or greater than the minimum 

estimated amount will not be 

considered perfected for fee-related 

reasons. 

(14) DoD FOIA Components will track 

and assess, if appropriate, hourly 

processing fees for human activity 

involving search, review, and other 

activity, in accordance with the rates in 

Table 1 of this section. 

TABLE 1—FOIA HOURLY PROCESSING FEES

Type Grade Hourly rate 

Administrative ........................... E–9 and GS–8 and below ............................................................................................................ $28 

Professional .............................. Contractor/O–1 to O–6/GS–9 to GS–15 ...................................................................................... 56 

Executive .................................. O–7 and above and Senior Executive Service ............................................................................ 112 

(15) Search fee assessments would 

include manual and electronic searches. 

Electronic searches, which include any 

time spent on a computer to conduct a 

search (including electronic files of 

documents and database files) would 

include: 

(i) Time spent by a person to create 

a query or program to conduct an 

electronic search, including the 

extraction of specific fields out of a 

database. 

(ii) Time spent by a person to search 

servers or hard drives using a keyword 

or other search method. 

(iii) Time spent by a person to review 

documents located during an electronic 

search to determine if they are 

responsive. 

(16) A DoD Component will not pass 

on to FOIA requesters any costs of 

purchasing or maintaining information 

technology computers if these 

computers are used in the normal 

operation of the DoD Component. 

(17) The DoD assessable fee for 

document reproduction is $0.15 per 

page. This fee applies only to paper 

copies of documents provided to FOIA 

requesters. DoD Components will not 

assess a document reproduction fee 

when providing electronic copies of 

responsive documents to FOIA 

requesters unless the creation of the 

electronic copies requires unique 

security procedures incurring 

considerable operator time, costing 

more than printing paper copies. In 

these cases, assessable fees are 

computed by taking the operator time to 

create the product times the rate in 

Table 1 of this section. 

(18) When the duplication of 

responsive documents involves 

duplicating audiovisual materials (e.g., 

creating a digital video disk (DVD)), 

assessable fees are computed by taking 

the operator time to duplicate the 

product times the rate in Table 1 of this 

section. Audiovisual materials provided 

to a FOIA requester need not be in 

reproducible format or quality. Since 

the cost of audiovisual materials such as 

DVDs are small, the DoD Components 

will not charge for the use of this media, 

except as provided in Table 2 of this 

section for technical data. 

TABLE 2—FOIA DOCUMENT PRODUCTION FEES—TECHNICAL DATA

Type Cost 

Aerial Photographs, Specifications, Permits, Charts, Diagrams, Technical Drawings, Blueprints, and Other Technical Documents 

(per page or copy) ............................................................................................................................................................................... $2.50 

Engineering Data: .................................................................................................................................................................................... 3.00 

3.50 

Aperture Cards, per card .................................................................................................................................................................. 1.00 

Silver Duplicate Negative .......................................................................................................................................................... 3.50 

When Keypunched and Verified ............................................................................................................................................... 3.00 

Diazo Duplicate Negative .......................................................................................................................................................... 1.00 

When Keypunched and Verified ............................................................................................................................................... 0.65 

35 mm Roll Film, per frame ............................................................................................................................................................. 0.30 

16 mm Roll Film, per frame ............................................................................................................................................................. 0.10 

Paper Prints (engineering drawings), each (per square foot) 

Paper Reprints of Microfilm Images, each 

Other Technical Data Records: 

Paper Copy (standard size paper up to 8 1/2 × 14, photocopier or printer) ................................................................................... 0.15 

CD/DVD ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 5.00 

Microfiche Produced, each ............................................................................................................................................................... 3.50 

Certification and Validation with Seal, each document .................................................................................................................... 50.00 

(c) Fee restrictions. (1) No fees may be 

charged by any DoD Component if the 

total assessable fees are less than or 

equal to $25. 

(2) When the DoD Components fails to 

comply with the 20-day statutory time 

limit and no unusual or exceptional 

circumstances apply, they may not 

assess search and duplication fees for 

‘‘all other’’ requesters or duplications 

fees for FOIA requests from educational, 

noncommercial scientific institutions or 

representatives of the news media. (See 

§ 286.3 for an explanation of unusual 

and exceptional circumstances.) When 

the DoD Components determine a FOIA 

requester must still pay all assessable 

fees because unusual or exceptional 


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circumstances exist, the FOIA requester 

will be advised of this as early as 

possible during the processing of the 

FOIA request. 

(3) The DoD Components will not 

charge more than one FOIA requester 

for the search and review of the same 

documents. When two or more 

requesters ask for the same documents, 

only the FOIA requester whose FOIA 

request was first received by the DoD 

Component can be assessed for search 

or review fees. All FOIA requesters can 

be assessed duplication fees. If the first 

FOIA requester is not assessed search or 

review fees due to fee status, those fees 

cannot be passed on to any later FOIA 

requesters. 

(4) FOIA requesters receiving the first 

2 hours of search and the first 100 pages 

of duplication without charge are 

entitled to this only once per FOIA 

request. 

(5) When duplication involves the 

creation of audiovisual material or 

considerable operator time in the 

creation of CDs, in the case of noncommercial requesters the monetary 

equivalent of the first 100 free pages is 

subtracted from the actual computed 

cost of duplication (see Table 2 of this 

section). For example, if the total actual 

duplication cost of a DVD is $75, the 

FOIA requester is charged only the 

amount above $15 (the first 100 free 

pages times the paper duplication rate 

of $0.15 in Table 2). In this case, that 

would be $60. 

(d) Fee waivers. (1) Documents will be 

furnished without charge, or at a 

reduced charge, when the DoD 

Component determines that waiver or 

reduction of the fees is in the public 

interest because furnishing the 

information is likely to contribute 

significantly to public understanding of 

DoD operations or activities and is not 

primarily in the commercial interest of 

the FOIA requester. Decisions to waive 

or reduce fees that exceed the minimum 

chargeable fee established in paragraph 

(b)(1) of this section will be made by the 

DoD Component on a case-by-case basis 

and after a search for responsive records 

is completed, consistent with these 

factors: 

(i) Disclosure of the information is in 

the public interest because it is likely to 

contribute significantly to public 

understanding of the operations or 

activities of the government. The factors 

identified in paragraphs (d)(1)(i)(A) 

through (D) of this section must be met 

to some degree to warrant waiving or 

reducing assessable fees in the public 

interest. 

(A) Subject of the FOIA request. The 

DoD Components should analyze 

whether the subject matter of the FOIA 

request involves issues that will 

significantly contribute to the public 

understanding of DoD operations or 

activities. 

(1) FOIA requests for records in DoD 

possession that were originated by nongovernment organizations and are 

sought for their intrinsic content, rather 

than informative value, will likely not 

contribute to public understanding of 

DoD operations or activities. An 

example of such records might be press 

clippings, magazine articles, or records 

forwarding a particular opinion or 

concern from a member of the public 

regarding a DoD activity. 

(2) Similarly, disclosures of records of 

considerable age may or may not bear 

directly on current DoD activities; 

however, the age of a particular record 

will not be the sole criterion for denying 

relative significance consistent with this 

factor. For instance, an informative 

issue concerning current DoD activities 

may be based on historical 

documentation. FOIA requests of this 

nature must be closely reviewed 

consistent with the FOIA requester’s 

stated purpose for desiring the records 

and the potential for public 

understanding of DoD operations and 

activities. 

(B) Informative value of the 

information to be disclosed. This factor 

requires a close analysis of the 

substantive contents of a record, or 

portion of the record, to determine 

whether disclosure is meaningful and 

will inform the public on DoD 

operations or activities. While the 

subject of a FOIA request may contain 

information that concerns the 

Department of Defense, it may not 

always hold great potential for 

contributing to a meaningful 

understanding of its operations or 

activities. Examples include: 

(1) A heavily redacted record 

previously released, containing only 

random words, fragmented sentences, or 

paragraph headings. 

(2) Identical or nearly identical record 

in the public domain. 

(C) Contribution to an understanding 

of the subject by the general public 

likely to result from disclosure. The key 

element in determining the applicability 

of this factor is whether disclosure will 

inform, or have the potential to inform, 

the public rather than simply the 

individual FOIA requester or a small 

segment of interested persons. The 

identity of the FOIA requester is 

essential in this situation in order to 

determine whether such FOIA requester 

has the capability and intention to 

disseminate the information to the 

public. Mere assertions of plans to 

author a book, research a particular 

subject, complete doctoral dissertation 

work, or claims of indigence are 

insufficient without demonstrating the 

capacity to further disclose the 

information in a manner that will be 

informative to the general public. FOIA 

requesters should be asked to describe 

their qualifications, the nature of their 

research, the purpose of the requested 

information, and their intended means 

of dissemination to the public. 

(D) Significance of the contribution to 

public understanding. In applying this 

factor, the DoD Components must 

differentiate the relative significance or 

impact of the disclosure against the 

current level of public knowledge or 

understanding that exists before the 

disclosure. In other words, will 

disclosure on a current subject of wide 

public interest be unique in contributing 

previously unknown facts, thereby 

enhancing public knowledge, or will it 

basically duplicate what is already 

known by the general public? A 

decision regarding significance requires 

objective judgment, rather than 

subjective determination, and must be 

applied carefully to determine whether 

disclosure will likely lead to a 

significant public understanding of the 

issue. The DoD Components must not 

make value judgments as to whether the 

information is important enough to be 

made public. 

(ii) Disclosure of the information is 

not primarily in the commercial interest 

of the FOIA requester. Determining 

commercial interest requires 

consideration of two basic issues: 

(A) Existence and magnitude of a 

commercial interest. If the FOIA request 

is determined to be of a commercial 

interest, the DoD Components should 

address the magnitude of that interest to 

determine if the FOIA requester’s 

commercial interest is primary, as 

opposed to any secondary personal or 

non-commercial interest. In addition to 

profit-making organizations, individual 

persons or other organizations may have 

a commercial interest in requesting 

records. When it is difficult to 

determine whether the FOIA requester 

is of a commercial nature, the DoD 

Components may draw inference from 

the FOIA requester’s identity and 

circumstances of the FOIA request. 

(B) Primary interest in disclosure. 

Once a FOIA requester’s commercial 

interest has been determined, the DoD 

Components should then determine if 

the disclosure would be primarily in 

that interest. This requires a balancing 

test between the commercial interests of 

the FOIA request against any public 

benefit to be derived as a result of that 

disclosure. 


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(1) When the public interest is served 

above and beyond that of the FOIA 

requester’s commercial interest, a 

waiver or reduction of fees would be 

appropriate. 

(2) Conversely, even if a significant 

public interest exists, and the relative 

commercial interest of the FOIA 

requester is determined to be greater 

than the public interest, then a waiver 

or reduction of fees would be 

inappropriate. 

(3) As examples, news media 

organizations have a commercial 

interest as business organizations; 

however, their inherent role of 

disseminating news to the general 

public can ordinarily be presumed to be 

of a primary interest. Therefore, any 

commercial interest becomes secondary 

to the primary interest in serving the 

public. Similarly, scholars writing books 

or engaged in other forms of academic 

research may recognize a commercial 

benefit, either directly or indirectly 

(through the institution they represent); 

however, usually such pursuits are 

primarily undertaken for educational 

purposes, and the application of a fee 

charge would be inappropriate. 

Conversely, data brokers or others who 

merely compile government information 

for marketing can be presumed to have 

an interest primarily of a commercial 

nature. 

(2) The factors and examples used in 

paragraph (d)(1) of this section are not 

all inclusive. Each fee decision must be 

considered on a case-by-case basis and 

upon the merits of the information 

provided in each FOIA request. When 

there is an element of doubt as to 

whether to charge or waive the fee, the 

DoD Components should rule in favor of 

the FOIA requester. 

(3) The DoD Components will 

consider these additional circumstances 

where waiver or reduction of fees are 

most likely to be warranted: 

(i) A record is voluntarily created to 

prevent an otherwise burdensome effort 

to provide voluminous amounts of 

available records, including additional 

information not requested. 

(ii) A previous denial of records is 

reversed in total, or in part, and the 

assessable costs are not substantial (e.g., 

$25 to $50). 

(e) Aggregating FOIA requests. When 

a DoD Component reasonably believes 

that a FOIA requester or, on rare 

occasions, a group of FOIA requesters 

acting in concert, is attempting to break 

a FOIA request down into a series of 

requests to avoid the assessment of fees, 

the DoD Component may aggregate any 

such FOIA requests and charge 

accordingly. Another example would be 

if a FOIA requester considered ‘‘other’’ 

for fee purposes files multiple FOIA 

requests at the same time, each seeking 

portions of a document or documents, 

solely in order to avoid payment of fees. 

(1) One element to be considered in 

determining whether this belief would 

be reasonable is the time period when 

the FOIA requests are made. For 

example, it would be reasonable to 

presume that multiple FOIA requests of 

this type made within a 30-day period 

are made to avoid fees. For FOIA 

requests made over a longer period, 

however, such a presumption becomes 

harder to sustain and the DoD 

Components must have a solid basis for 

determining that aggregation is 

warranted in such cases. 

(2) Before aggregating FOIA requests 

from more than one FOIA requester, the 

DoD Components must have a basis to 

conclude that the FOIA requesters are 

acting in concert and are acting 

specifically to avoid payment of fees. 

(3) The DoD Components will not 

aggregate multiple FOIA requests on 

unrelated subjects from one FOIA 

requester. 

(f) Effect of the Debt Collection Act of 

1982. The Debt Collection Act of 1982 

provides for a minimum annual rate of 

interest to be charged on overdue debts 

owed the U.S. government. The DoD 

Components may levy this interest 

penalty for any fees that remain 

outstanding 30 calendar days from the 

date of billing (the first demand notice) 

to the FOIA requester of the amount 

owed. The interest rate will be as 

prescribed in Volume 11A of DoD 

7000.14–R. The DoD Components 

should verify the current interest rate 

with their respective finance and 

accounting offices. After one demand 

letter has been sent and 30 calendar 

days have lapsed with no payment, the 

DoD Components may submit the debt 

to their respective finance and 

accounting offices for collection 

pursuant to the Debt Collection Act of 

1982. 

(g) Computation of fees. The fee 

schedules in Tables 1 and 2 of this 

section will be used to compute the 

assessable fees based on the time 

actually spent on the search, review (in 

the case of commercial requesters), and 

duplication costs associated with 

processing a given FOIA request. 

Neither time-based nor dollar-based 

minimum charges for search, review, 

and duplication are authorized. The 

appropriate fee category of the FOIA 

requester must be determined before 

computing fees. All time computations 

will be to the nearest 15 minutes. 

(1) The DoD Components will track 

processing costs for each FOIA request 

on DD Form 2086, ‘‘Record of Freedom 

of Information (FOI) Processing Cost,’’ 

or by using DD Form 2086–2, ‘‘Freedom 

of Information (FOI) Consultation and 

Request Summary’’ (available at http:// 

www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/infomgt/

forms/formsprogram.htm). 

(2) DD Form 2086–2 is designed to 

capture additional data to facilitate the 

production of the Annual FOIA Report. 

It is best suited for FOIA Requester 

Service Centers without an automated 

accounting system. 

(h) Refunds. When a DoD Component 

discovers that it has overcharged a FOIA 

requester or that a FOIA requester has 

overpaid, the DoD Component will 

promptly refund the charge to the FOIA 

requester by reimbursement methods 

that are agreeable to the FOIA requester 

and the Component. 

(i) Collection of fees. The DoD 

Components will advise FOIA 

requesters of assessable fees and provide 

instructions on fee payment with the 

final determination. The DoD 

Components will coordinate with their 

servicing finance offices to ensure they 

are employing proper collection 

procedures. 

(j) Other records. Direct search and 

duplication cost for any record not 

described in paragraph (b) of this 

section will be computed in the manner 

described for audiovisual documentary 

material. 

(k) Costs for Special Services. 

Complying with FOIA requests for 

special services is at the discretion of 

the DoD Components. Neither the FOIA 

nor its fee structure covers these kinds 

of services. Therefore, the DoD 

Components may recover the costs of 

special services after a FOIA requester 

agrees in writing from the FOIA 

requester to pay for any of these 

services: 

(1) Certifying that records are true 

copies. 

(2) Sending records by special 

methods such as express mail. 

(3) Creating a computer program to 

merge files with disparate data formats 

and extract specific elements from the 

resultant file. 

§ 286.34 Fees for technical data. 

(a) Technical data may be graphic or 

pictorial delineations in media, such as 

drawings or photographs, text in 

specification or related performance or 

design-type documents, or computer 

printouts. Examples of technical data 

include research and engineering data, 

engineering drawings, and associated 

lists, specifications, standards, process 

sheets, manuals, technical reports, 

catalog item identification, and related 

information and computer software 

documentation. 


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(b) Unless technical data qualifies for 

withholding from public release 

pursuant to one or more of the FOIA 

exemptions, it will be released to the 

FOIA requester after all reasonable costs 

are paid as authorized by 10 U.S.C. 

2328. 

(1) All reasonable costs are the full 

costs to the government for rendering 

the service, as reflected on DD Form 

2086–1, ‘‘Record of Freedom of 

Information (FOI) Processing Cost for 

Technical Data’’ (available at http://

www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/infomgt/

forms/eforms/dd2086-1.pdf). 

(2) The DoD Components will retain 

the amounts received by such a release, 

and will merge it with and make it 

available for the same purpose and the 

same time period as the appropriation 

from which the costs were incurred in 

complying with the FOIA request. 

(3) For personnel rates, see Table 1 of 

§ 286.33. 

(4) For document production fees, see 

Table 2 of § 286.33. 

(c) The DoD Components will waive 

the payment of costs required in 

paragraph (b) of this section that are 

greater than the costs that would be 

required for release of this same 

information consistent with paragraph 

(b) of this section if: 

(1) The FOIA request is made by a 

U.S. citizen or a U.S. corporation, and 

such citizen or corporation certifies that 

the technical data requested is required 

to enable it to submit an offer, or to 

determine whether it is capable of 

submitting an offer, to provide the 

product to which the technical data 

relates to the United States or a U.S. 

contractor. However, the DoD 

Components may require the citizen or 

corporation to pay a deposit in an 

amount equal to not more than the cost 

of complying with the FOIA request, 

which will be refunded upon 

submission of an offer by the citizen or 

corporation; 

(2) The release of technical data is 

requested in order to comply with the 

terms of an international agreement; or 

(3) The DoD Component determines, 

in accordance with paragraph (c) of this 

section that such a waiver is in the 

interest of the United States. 

§ 286.35 Fees for research data. 

Research data that is obtained by the 

DoD Component from a grant recipient 

solely in response to a FOIA request 

may charge the FOIA requester a 

reasonable fee equaling the full 

incremental cost of obtaining the 

research data. The fee should reflect 

costs incurred by the DoD Component, 

grant recipient, and sub-recipients. This 

fee is in addition to any fees the DoD 

Component may assess pursuant to the 

FOIA. 

Subpart G—Education and Training 

§ 286.36 Purpose. 

The purpose of the DoD FOIA 

educational and training programs is to 

promote a positive attitude among DoD 

personnel and raise the level of 

understanding and appreciation of the 

DoD FOIA Program. Fulfilling this 

purpose will improve customer service 

to members of the public and improve 

the public trust in the Department of 

Defense. 

§ 286.37 Responsibility. 

Each DoD Component establishes 

educational and training programs on 

the provisions and requirements of this 

part. These programs will develop a 

general understanding and appreciation 

of the DoD FOIA Program in all DoD 

Component personnel. The training 

programs will provide personnel 

involved in the day-to-day processing of 

FOIA requests with a thorough 

understanding of the procedures 

outlined in this part. 

§ 286.38 Scope and principles. 

Each DoD Component designs its 

FOIA educational and training programs 

to fit the particular requirements of its 

personnel, dependent upon their degree 

of involvement in implementing this 

part. These programs will reach for two 

target audiences: those personnel who 

are involved in the day-to-day 

processing of FOIA requests, and those 

staff personnel who provide search or 

review staff-support to the DoD 

Component FOIA process. The 

programs will: 

(a) Familiarize personnel with the 

requirements of the FOIA and its 

implementation by this part and 

respective DoD Component issuances. 

(b) Instruct personnel who act in 

FOIA matters on the provisions of this 

part; advise them of the legal hazards 

involved and the strict prohibition 

against arbitrary and capricious 

withholding of information. 

(c) Provide procedural and legal 

guidance and instruction to initial 

denial and appellate authorities 

concerning the discharge of their 

responsibilities. 

(d) Emphasize that the processing of 

FOIA requests must be citizen-centered 

and results-oriented. 

(e) Advise personnel of the penalties 

for noncompliance with the FOIA. 

§ 286.39 Implementation. 

To ensure uniformity of 

interpretation, the DoD Components 

will coordinate their educational and 

training programs with DFOIPO. 

Appendix A to Part 286—DoD FOIA 

Program Components and Addresses 

(a) General. (1) The DoD does not have a 

central repository for DoD records. FOIA 

requesters should address FOIA requests to 

the FOIA Requester Service Center of the 

DoD Component that has custody of the 

record desired. DFOIPO maintains a current 

list of links to FOIA Requester Service 

Centers at http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/

dfoipo/. FOIA Requesters Service Centers 

may assume that FOIA requests addressed to 

their DoD Component are for their 

component’s records only, and they have no 

obligation to refer the FOIA request to 

another DoD Component unless it is clearly 

a misdirected FOIA request (for example, a 

Navy FOIA Requester Service Center receives 

a FOIA request for an Air Force contract). 

(2) If uncertain as to the ownership of the 

record, FOIA Requesters Service Centers 

should contact the OSD/JS FOIA Requester 

Service Center at 1–866–574–4970, to seek 

assistance on its ownership. If it still is 

undetermined, then the FOIA Requester 

Service Center receiving the request will 

advise the FOIA requester that they do not 

have cognizance over the record, and will 

administratively close the FOIA request. 

(b) DoD Component FOIA Requester 

Service Center addresses. Each of these DoD 

Component heads will serve as, or appoint, 

an appellate authority in accordance with 32 

CFR part 285. 

(1) OSD and the Office of the Chairman of 

the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Joint Staff. (i) 

Address all requests to: OSD/Joint Staff FOIA 

Requester Service Center, Office of Freedom 

of Information, 1155 Defense Pentagon, 

Washington, DC 20301–1155. 

(ii) The OSD/Joint Staff FOIA Requester 

Service Center processes FOIA requests for 

offices, agencies, and activities not listed in 

this Appendix. Table 1 of this appendix lists 

other organizations, activities, or offices 

serviced by the OSD/Joint Staff FOIA 

Requester Service Center. 

TABLE 1—ADDITIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, ACTIVITIES, OR OFFICES

SERVICED BY THE OSD/JOINT STAFF

FOIA REQUESTER SERVICE CENTER

Criminal Investigation Task Force 

Defense Acquisition University 

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency 

Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute 

Defense Legal Services Agency 

Defense Microelectronics Activity 

Defense Media Activity 

Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Persons 

Office 

Defense Security Cooperation Agency 

Defense Technology Security Administration 

Defense Travel Management Office 

DoD Human Resources Activity 

DoD Test Resources Management Center 

Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization 

Missile Defense Agency 


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TABLE 1—ADDITIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, ACTIVITIES, OR OFFICES

SERVICED BY THE OSD/JOINT STAFF

FOIA REQUESTER SERVICE CENTER—Continued 

National Defense University 

Office of Economic Adjustment 

Pentagon Force Protection Agency 

Uniform Services University of the Health 

Sciences 

Washington Headquarters Services 

White House Military Office 

(2) Department of the Army. For records 

from the Headquarters, U.S. Army, or if there 

is uncertainty as to which Army activity may 

have the records, address FOIA requests to: 

Department of the Army, Freedom of 

Information Act Office, ATTN: AAHS–RDF, 

7701 Telegraph Road, Suite 144, Alexandria, 

VA 22315–3905. 

(3) Department of the Navy. Address FOIA 

requests to the Commanding Officer of any 

Navy or U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) activity. 

Clearly indicate that the request is a FOIA 

request. 

(i) For Secretary of the Navy and Chief of 

Naval Operations, or if there is uncertainty as 

to which Navy activity may have the records, 

send FOIA requests to: Department of the 

Navy, Chief of Naval Operations (DNS–36), 

2000 Navy Pentagon, Washington, DC 20350– 

2000. 

(ii) For Headquarters, USMC Department/ 

Division records, or if there is uncertainty as 

to which USMC unit may have the records, 

send FOIA requests to: Commandant of the 

Marine Corps, 3000 Marine Corps Pentagon, 

Washington, DC 20380–0001. 

(4) Department of the Air Force. Address 

FOIA requests to the Commander of any Air 

Force installation, major command, or field 

operating agency to the attention of the FOIA 

Requester Service Center. For records of the 

Headquarters, U.S. Air Force, or if there is 

uncertainty as to which Air Force activity 

may have the records, send FOIA requests to: 

Department of the Air Force, ATTN: SAF/

AAII (FOIA), 1000 Air Force Pentagon, 

Washington, DC 20330–1000. 

(5) Defense Commissary Agency. Address 

all FOIA requests to: Defense Commissary 

Agency, FOIA/Privacy Act Officer, 1300 E. 

Avenue, Fort Lee, VA 23801–1800. 

(6) Defense Contract Audit Agency 

(DCAA). Address FOIA requests to any 

DCAA regional office or to DCAA 

Headquarters. For records from Headquarters, 

DCAA, or if there is uncertainty as to which 

DCAA region may have the records, send 

FOIA requests to: Defense Contract Audit 

Agency, ATTN: CMR, FOIA Requester 

Service Center, 8725 John J. Kingman Road, 

Suite 2135, Fort Belvoir, VA 22060–6219. 

(7) Defense Contract Management Agency 

(DCMA). Address FOIA requests to: Defense 

Contract Management Agency, Building 

10500, 3901 A Avenue, Fort Lee, VA 23801. 

(8) Defense Finance and Accounting 

Service (DFAS). Address FOIA requests to 

any DFAS regional office or to Headquarters, 

DFAS. For records from Headquarters, DFAS, 

or if there is uncertainty as to which DFAS 

region may have the records, address FOIA 

requests to: Defense Finance and Accounting 

Service, FOIA/PA Program Manager, 

Corporate Communications, DFAS–HKC/IN, 

8899 E. 56th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46249– 

0150. 

(9) Defense Health Agency. Address 

requests to: Defense Health Agency FOIA 

Requester Service Center, 7700 Arlington 

Boulevard, Suite 5101, Falls Church, VA 

22042–5101 

(10) Defense Information Systems Agency 

(DISA). DISA records may be requested from 

any DISA field activity or from its 

headquarters. For records from Headquarters, 

DISA, or if there is uncertainty as to which 

DISA field activity may have the records, 

address FOIA requests to: Defense 

Information Systems Agency, ATTN: 

Headquarters FOIA Requester Service Center, 

P.O. Box 459, Fort George G. Meade, MD 

20755. 

(11) Defense Intelligence Agency. Address 

FOIA requests to: Defense Intelligence 

Agency, ATTN: DIAC, DAN–1A (FOIA), 

Building 6000, Washington, DC 20340–5100. 

(12) Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). DLA 

records may be requested from its 

headquarters or from any of its field 

activities. For records from Headquarters, 

DLA, or if there is uncertainty as to which 

DLA field activity may have the records, 

address FOIA requests to: Defense Logistics 

Agency, FOIA Desk Officer, ATTN: DG/FOIA 

& Privacy Act Team, 8725 John J. Kingman 

Road, Suite 1644, Ft. Belvoir, VA 22060– 

6221. 

(13) Defense Security Service. Address 

FOIA requests to: Defense Security Service, 

Office of FOIA and Privacy, 27130 Telegraph 

Road, Quantico, VA 22134. 

(14) Defense Threat Reduction Agency. 

Address FOIA requests to: Defense Threat 

Reduction Agency, DIR–COSMI–F FOI/

Privacy Office, 8725 John J. Kingman Road, 

Fort Belvoir, VA 22060–6201. 

(15) National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency. Address FOIA requests to: National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, FOIA 

Requester Service Center, 7500 GEOINT 

Drive, MS S71–OGCA, Springfield, VA 

22150–7500. 

(16) National Reconnaissance Office. 

Address FOIA requests to: National 

Reconnaissance Office, Information Review 

and Release Group, ATTN: FOIA Officer, 

14675 Lee Road, Chantilly, VA 20151–1715. 

(17) National Security Agency/Central 

Security Service. Address FOIA requests to: 

National Security Agency/Central Security 

Service, FOIA/PA Services, DJ4, 9800 Savage 

Road, Suite 6248, Fort George G. Meade, MD 

20755–6248. 

(18) Office of the Inspector General of the 

Department of Defense. Address FOIA 

requests to: Inspector General of the 

Department of Defense, FOIA Requester 

Service Center/Privacy Act Office, 4800 Mark 

Center Drive, Suite 17F18, Alexandria, VA 

22350–1500. 

(c) DoD Field Activity and Combatant 

Command addresses. The FOIA Requester 

Service Centers listed in this paragraph (c) 

respond directly to the public on initial FOIA 

requests; however, the appellate authority is 

the DA&M. Accordingly, initial FOIA 

requests should be sent to the addresses 

indicated. 

(1) Chairman, Armed Services Board of 

Contract Appeals. Address FOIA requests to: 

Chairman, Armed Services Board of Contract 

Appeals, Skyline Six Room 703, 5109 

Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041–3208. 

(2) Defense Technical Information Center. 

Address FOIA requests to: Defense Technical 

Information Center, ATTN: FOIA Program 

Manager, 8725 John J. Kingman Road, Suite 

0944, Fort Belvoir, VA 22062–6218. 

(3) DoD Education Activity. Address FOIA 

requests to: DoD Education Activity, 

Freedom of Information Act Officer, 4800 

Mark Center Drive, Alexandria, VA 22350– 

1400. 

(4) Joint Personnel Recovery Agency. 

Address requests to: Joint Personnel 

Recovery Agency, ATTN: FOIA Requestor 

Service Center, 10244 Burbeck Road, 

Building 358, Fort Belvoir, VA 22060–5805. 

(5) National Guard Bureau. Address FOIA 

requests to: National Guard Bureau, Attn: 

NGB–JA (FOIA), 1411 Jefferson Davis 

Highway, Suite 11300, Arlington, VA 22202– 

3231. 

(6) United States Africa Command. 

Address FOIA requests to: United States 

Africa Command, ATTN: FOIA Requester 

Service Center, Unit 29951, APO AE 09751– 

9951. 

(7) United States Central Command. 

Address FOIA requests to: United States 

Central Command, CCJ6–RD (FOIA), 7115 

South Boundary Boulevard, MacDill Air 

Force Base, FL 33621–5101. 

(8) United States European Command. 

Address FOIA requests to: United States 

European Command, FOIA Requester Service 

Center, Unit 30400 Box 1000, APO AE 09131. 

(9) United States Northern Command. 

Address FOIA requests to: United States 

Northern Command, FOIA Requester Service 

Center, 250 Vandenberg Street, Suite B016, 

Peterson Air Force Base, CO 80914–3804. 

(10) United States Pacific Command. 

Address FOIA requests to: United States 

Pacific Command, FOIA Requester Service 

Center, ATTN: J0211, Box 64028, Camp H. M. 

Smith, HI 96861–4028. 

(11) United States Southern Command. 

Address FOIA requests to: HQ 

USSOUTHCOM, Attn: SCJ224 (FOIA), 9301 

NW 33d Street, Doral, FL 33172. 

(12) United States Special Operations 

Command. Address FOIA requests to: United 

States Special Operations Command, SOCS– 

SJS–I/FOIA Requester Service Center, 7701 

Tampa Point Blvd., MacDill Air Force Base, 

FL 33621–5323. 

(13) United States Strategic Command. 

Address FOIA requests to: United States 

Strategic Command, Attn: J006 (FOIA), 901 

SAC Blvd., Suite 1A6, Offutt Air Force Base, 

NE 68113–6000. 

(14) United States Transportation 

Command. Address FOIA requests to: United 

States Transportation Command, Attn: TCJA– 

FO, 508 Scott Drive, Building 1961, Scott Air 

Force Base, IL 62225. 

Dated: July 18, 2014. 

Aaron Siegel, 

Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison 

Officer, Department of Defense. 

[FR Doc. 2014–19747 Filed 9–2–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 5001–06–P 


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