DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

ANNUAL REPORT

FOR

FISCAL YEAR 2008

DIRECTOR OF ADMINISTRATION  

AND MANAGEMENT
i 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 

REPORT FOR 

FISCAL YEAR 2008 

Report Period: October 1, 2007 through September 30, 2008

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Department of Defense (DoD) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program is 

reporting 71,699 processed requests for records under the FOIA. In the processing of these 

cases, the Department of Defense granted in full 28,451, partially denied 14,901, and denied in 

full 2,554 on the basis of FOIA exemptions. Of all the cases in which the exemptions were used, 

approximately 38% were for privacy information (Exemption 6); 19% for law enforcement 

privacy (Exemption 7(C)); 10% for internal rules and practices; 8% for statutory exemptions; 8% 

for classified information; 8% for deliberative material; 6% for proprietary data; 3% for law 

enforcement investigations (not including Exemption 7(C)); 0.03% for information concerning 

financial institutions and 0.03% for information concerning wells. An additional 25,793 requests 

were closed in whole or in part for other reasons, such as lack of records, referral to another 

agency, or lack of specificity sufficient to identify the requested records. There were 862 actions 

taken on appeals of denied requests: 37 reversed, 138 partially affirmed, 245 fully affirmed, and 

442 dismissed for other reasons. The number of pending FOIA requests at the DoD at the end of 

fiscal year 2007, as reported in last year’s report, was 26,195. The number of pending FOIA 

requests for the DoD at the end of fiscal 2008 year was 14,660. The greater part of this reduction 

in backlog can be attributed to the change in reporting requirements of Privacy Act requests. 

However, even considering the change in reporting requirements, the DoD reduced its overall 

backlog by 3% in FY 2008, which can be attributed to the additional funding selected DoD 

components were directed to apply to their FOIA programs, in accordance with the DoD FOIA 

Improvement Plan of June 14, 2006. 

The total DoD operating cost associated with the processing of requests during this report 

period was $70,755,178. The average cost of processing a single case during this period was 

approximately $986.00. Fee collections for records provided to the public amounted to $617,878 

(0.9% of total program cost). 

Due to significant reporting requirements for the annual report that were not established 

until mid-year FY08, not all 30 components were able to collect and satisfy the new data 

requirements despite significant efforts to do so. 

 
ii 

Table of Contents 

Section Page

I. Basic Information Regarding Report 1 

II. Making a FOIA Request 1 

III. Acronyms, Definitions, and Exemptions 3 

IV. Exemption 3 Statutes 7 

V. FOIA Requests 11 

VI. Administrative Appeals of Initial Determinations of FOIA Requests 15 

VII. FOIA Requests: Response Time for Processed and Pending Requests 22 

VIII. Requests for Expedited Processing and Requests for Fee Waivers 

IX. FOIA Personnel and Costs 

X. Fees Collected for Processing Requests 

XI. FOIA Regulations 

XII. Backlogs, Consultations, and Comparisons 

31 

33 

34 

35 

36 
1 

I. Basic Information Regarding Report

1. Title, address, and telephone number of person to be contacted with questions about the 

report: 

Write to: Chief, Defense Freedom of Information Policy Office 

1155 Defense Pentagon 

Washington, DC 20301-1155 

Telephone: (703) 696-4689 

Toll-free number: (866) 574-4970 

Fax number: (703) 696-4506 

Point of Contact: Mr. Jim Hogan 

 Chief, Defense Freedom of Information Policy Office 

2. The electronic address (Universal Resource Line) for this report is: 

http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/dfoipo/foia_reports.html

3. You may obtain a paper copy of this DoD Annual FOIA Report for FY08 by telephoning, 

faxing, or writing to the Defense Freedom of Information Policy Office. A FOIA request is 

not necessary. Please include a return mailing address. 

II. Making a FOIA Request

1. The DoD Freedom of Information Act Handbook provides general information about the 

FOIA Program within DoD and provides basic information about how to submit a FOIA 

request. This document also contains DoD component addresses, a brief description of 

expected response times, and the reason why some requests are not granted. The DoD 

Freedom of Information Act Handbook can be found at:

http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/dfoipo/docs/FOIAhandbook.pdf

To make a FOIA request on the world wide web use the following: 

http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/submit_foiareq.html

Using this web page, you can navigate to the FOIA Requester Service Centers for the Armed 

Services, Combatant Commands, or Defense Department Agencies; 

2. Reasons why some requests are not granted and general categories of agency records. 

a. This is a summary of the most frequent reasons for a FOIA request to not be granted: 

i. The request is transferred to another DoD component, or to another 

Federal Agency. 
2 

ii. The request is withdrawn by the requester. 

iii. The requester is unwilling to pay fees associated with a request; the 

requester is past due in the payment of fees from a previous FOIA request; 

or the requester disagrees with the fee estimate. 

iv. A record has not been described with sufficient detail to enable the DoD 

component to locate it with a reasonable amount of effort. 

v. The information requested is not a record within the meaning of the FOIA. 

vi. The request is a duplicate request (e.g., a requester asks for the same 

information more than once). This includes identical requests received via 

different means (e.g., electronic mail, facsimile, mail, courier) at the same 

or different times from the same requester. 

vii. The record is denied in whole or in part in accordance with one or more 

exemptions as set forth in the FOIA. 

b. The FOIA exemptions used by the DoD components apply to a number of different 

categories of records. Some of these categories are: 

i. Acquisition and Contracting 

ii. Personnel 

iii. Intelligence 

iv. Military/Operational 

v. Law Enforcement 

vi. Inspector General 
3 

III. Acronyms, Definitions, and Exemptions

1. Acronyms and terms: 

a. Department of Defense acronyms or terms: 

AF Department of the Air Force 

ASBCA Armed Service Board of Contract Appeals 

ARMY Department of the Army 

CENTCOM U.S. Central Command 

DCAA Defense Contract Audit Agency 

DCMA Defense Contract Management Agency 

DeCA Defense Commissary Agency 

DFAS Defense Finance and Accounting Service 

DIA Defense Intelligence Agency 

DISA Defense Information Service Agency 

DLA 

DoD 

Defense Logistics Agency 

Department of Defense 

DoDEA Department of Defense Education Activity 

DoD IG Department of Defense Inspector General 

DSS Defense Security Service 

DTIC Defense Technical Information Center 

DTRA Defense Threat and Reduction Agency 

EUCOM U.S. European Command 

JFCOM U.S. Joint Forces Command 

NAVY Department of the Navy 

NGA National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

NORTHCOM U.S. Northern Command 

NRO National Reconnaissance Office 

NSA National Security Agency 

OSD/JS 

PA 

Office of the Secretary of Defense/Joint Staff 

Privacy Act 

PACOM U.S. Pacific Command 

SOCOM U.S. Special Operations Command 

STRATCOM U.S. Strategic Command 

TRANSCOM U.S. Transportation Command 

TRICARE TRICARE Management Agency 

b. Other agency acronyms: 

CIA 

DOJ 

Central Intelligence Agency 

Department of Justice 
4 

2. Definitions of terms. 

a. Administrative Appeal: A request to an agency asking that it review at a higher 

administrative level a full denial or partial denial of access to records under the FOIA, or 

any other adverse FOIA determination. 

b. Average number: The number obtained by dividing the sum of a group of numbers by 

the quantity of numbers in the group. For example: the average of 3, 7, and 14 is 8. 

c. Backlog: The number of requests or administrative appeals that are pending at an agency 

at the end of the fiscal year that are beyond the statutory time period for a response. 

d. Component: DoD processes requests on a decentralized basis; a “component” is an 

entity, also sometimes referred to as an Office, Combatant Command, or Defense 

Agency, within DoD that processes FOIA requests. 

e. Consultation: The procedure whereby an agency responding to a FOIA request first 

forwards a record to another agency for its review because that other agency has an 

interest in the document. Once the agency in receipt of the consultation finishes its 

review of the record, it responds back to the agency that forwarded it. That agency, in 

turn, will then respond to the FOIA requester. The DoD tracked consultations as FOIA 

requests until July 1, 2008. Due to DOJ guidance, they are now tracked and reported 

separately. 

f. Exemption 3 Statute: A separate federal statute prohibiting the disclosure of a certain 

type of information and authorizing it being withheld under FOIA, 5 USC 552(b)(3). 

g. FOIA Request: A FOIA request is generally a request to an agency for access to records 

concerning another person (i.e. a “third-party” request), or concerning an organization, or 

a particular topic of interest. FOIA requests also include requests made by requesters 

seeking records concerning themselves (i.e., “first-party” requests) when those requesters 

are not subject to the Privacy Act, such as non-U.S. citizens. Moreover, because all firstparty requesters should be afforded the benefit of both the access provisions of the FOIA 

as well as those of the Privacy Act, FOIA requests also include any first-party requests 

where an agency determines that it must search beyond its Privacy Act “systems of 

records” or where a Privacy Act exemption applies, and the agency looks to FOIA to 

afford the greatest possible access. All requests which require the agency to utilize the 

FOIA in responding to the requester are included in this report. 

h. Full Grant: An agency decision to disclose all records in full in response to a FOIA 

request. 

i. Full Denial: An agency decision not to release any part of a record or records in 

response to a FOIA request because all the information in the requested record or records 

is determined by the agency to be exempt under one or more of the FOIA exemptions, or 
5 

for some procedural reason such as no record is located in response to a FOIA request. 

j. Median number: The middle, not average, number. For example, of 3, 7, and 14, the 

median number is 7. 

k. Multi-track processing: A system in which simple requests requiring relatively minimal 

review are placed in one processing track and more voluminous and complex requests are 

placed in one or more other tracks. Requests in each track are processed on a first-in/first 

out basis. A requester who has a compelling need for records may request expedited 

processing (see below). 

i. Expedited Processing – an agency will process a FOIA request on an 

expedited basis when a requester satisfies the requirements for expedited 

processing as set forth in the statute and in agency regulations. 

ii. Simple Request – a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track 

processing places in its fastest (non-expedited) track based on the low 

volume and/or simplicity of the records requested. 

iii. Complex Request – a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track 

processing places in a slower track based on the high volume and/or 

complexity of the records requested. 

l. Partial Grant/Partial Denial: An agency decision to disclose a record only in part in 

response to a FOIA request, deleting information determined to be exempt under one or 

more exemptions under the FOIA; or a decision to disclose some records in their entirety, 

but to withhold others in whole or in part. 

m. Pending Request or Pending Administrative Appeal: A request or administrative 

appeal for which an agency has not taken final action in all respects. 

n. Perfected Request: A request for records which reasonably describes such records and 

is made in accordance with published rules stating the time, place, fees (if any) and 

procedures to be followed. 

o. Processed Request or Processed Administrative Appeal: A request or administrative 

appeal for which an agency has taken final action in all respects. 

p. Range in Number of Days: The minimum and maximum number of days to process 

requests or administrative appeals. 

q. Time limits: The time period in the FOIA for an agency to respond to a FOIA request 

(ordinarily 20 working days from proper receipt of a "perfected" FOIA request). 

3. Short definitions of the nine FOIA exemptions: 

a. Exemption 1: classified national defense and foreign relations information 
6 

b. Exemption 2: internal agency rules and practices 

c. Exemption 3: information that is prohibited from disclosure by another federal law 

d. Exemption 4: trade secrets and other confidential business information 

e. Exemption 5: inter-agency or intra-agency communications that are protected by legal 

privileges 

f. Exemption 6: information involving matters of personal privacy 

g. Exemption 7: records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, to the 

extent that the production of those records (A) could reasonably be expected to interfere 

with enforcement proceedings, (B) would deprive a person of the right to a fair trial or an 

impartial adjudication, (C) could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted 

invasion of personal privacy, (D) could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of 

a confidential source, (E) would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement 

investigations or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement 

investigations or prosecutions, or (F) could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or 

physical safety of any individual 

h. Exemption 8: information relating to the supervision of financial institutions 

i. Exemption 9: geological information on wells 
7 

 IV. Exemption 3 Statutes

Table 1 – Exemption 3 Statutes Relied Upon by DoD

Statute Type Information 

Withheld 

Case 

Citation

Number of Times Relied 

upon per Component 

Total 

Number 

for DoD

1 5 USC §574(j) Dispute Resolution 

Communication Between a 

Neutral and a Party to the 

Dispute 

No ARMY 3 16 

NAVY 4 

OSD/JS 9 

2 5 USC 

§7114(b)(4) 

Information about Labor 

Union Representation 

Rights and Duties Related to 

Collective Bargaining 

No AF 1 4 

ARMY 3 

3 10 USC §128 Unclassified Special 

Nuclear Weapons 

Information 

No AF 1 5 

ARMY 1 

DTRA 2 

OSD/JS 1 

4 10 USC §130 Unclassified Technical Data 

with Military or Space 

Application 

Yes1 AF 32 83 

ARMY 9 

DoD IG 2 

NAVY 20 

NSA 17 

OSD/JS 3 

5 10 USC §130b Personally Identifying 

Information of Personnel in 

Overseas, Sensitive or 

Routinely Deployable Units 

Yes2 AF 39 330 

ARMY 18 

CENTCOM 15 

DoDEA 11 

EUCOM 5 

NAVY 215 

OSD/JS 15 

PACOM 1 

SOCOM 7 

STRATCOM 4 

 

 

1

 Chenkin v. Department of the Army, No. 93-494, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20907, at *8 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 14, 1994), 

aff’d, 61 F.3d 894 (3d Cir. 1995) (unpublished table decision); Colonial Trading Corp. v. Department of the 

Navy, 735 F. Supp. 429, 431 (D.D.C. 1990); see also American Friends Serv. Comm. v. DOD, No. 83-4916, 

1986 WL 10659, at *4(E.D. Pa. Sept. 25, 1986), rev’d on other grounds, 831 F.2d 441 (3d Cir. 1987). 

2

Hiken v. Dep’t of Defense, No. 06-02812, 2007 U.S. LEXIS 73545 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 2, 2007). 
8 

 

Statute Type Information 

Withheld 

Case 

Citation

Number of Times Relied 

upon per Component 

Total 

Number 

for DoD

6 10 USC §130c Certain Sensitive 

Information of Foreign 

Governments and 

International Organizations 

Yes3 AF 3 26 

ARMY 6 

NAVY 1 

OSD/JS 14 

PACOM 1 

TRANSCOM 1 

7 10 USC §424 Organizational and 

Personnel Information for 

DIA, NRO, and NIMA 

Yes4 DIA 224 296 

NGA 2 

NRO 59 

OSD/JS 11 

8 10 USC §455 Maps, Charts, and Geodetic 

Data 

No NAVY 1 6 

NGA 5 

9 10 USC 

§613a(a) 

Proceedings of Promotion 

Selection Boards 

No AF 1 3 

ARMY 2 

10 10 USC §1102 Medical Quality Assurance 

Records 

No AF 2 21 

ARMY 10 

NAVY 9 

11 10 USC 

§1506(d) and(f) 

Debriefing of a Missing 

Person Returned to U.S. 

Control. 

No JFCOM 3 7 

OSD/JS 4 

12 10 USC 

§2305(g) 

DoD Contractor Proposals No AF 31 204 

ASBCA 1 

ARMY 90 

DeCA 1 

DISA 5 

DLA 35 

DoDEA 1 

DTRA 1 

NAVY 30 

NSA 5 

OSD/JS 2 

TRANSCOM 2 

13 10 USC 2371(i) Research Projects: 

Transactions Other Than 

Contracts and Grants

No OSD/JS 2 2 

14 12 USC §3403 Confidentiality of Financial 

Records 

No NAVY 2 2 

15 16 USC §470 w3 National Historic 

Preservation Information 

No ARMY 26 26 

 

 

3

 ACLU v. Dep’t of Defense, 389 F. Supp. 2d 547, 554 (S.D.N.Y. 2005). 

4

 Larson v. Department of State et al., No. 1:02CV01937, (D.D.C. Aug. 10, 2005). 
9 

 

Statute Type Information 

Withheld 

Case 

Citation

Number of Times Relied 

upon per Component 

Total 

Number 

for DoD

16 18 USC §798(a) Communications 

Intelligence 

Yes5 AF 1 859 

DIA 2 

NSA 855 

PACOM 1 

17 22 USC 

§2778(e) Sec 

38(e) of the 

Arms Export 

Control Act 

Information Subject to 

Arms Exports Controls 

No AF 2 7 

NAVY 3 

OSD/JS 2 

18 26 USC §6103 Confidentiality and 

Disclosure of Returns and 

Return Information 

No AF 3 3 

19 31 USC 

§3729(d); 

31 USC 

§3730(b)(2) 

Information Concerning 

Civil Action for False 

Claims 

No ARMY 1 1 

20 42 USC 

§2162(a) 

(Restricted 

Data) 

42 USC 

§2168(a)(1)(C) 

(Formerly 

Restricted Data) 

Information Regarding 

Atomic Energy: Restricted 

and Formerly Restricted 

Data (A.E. Act of 1954) 

(specific applicable sections 

must be invoked) 

Yes6 AF 19 67 

DTRA 2 

OSD/JS 42 

PACOM 1 

STRATCOM 3 

21 50 USC §402 

Note 

Sec 6, P.L. 86-

36 

NSA Functions and 

Information 

Yes7 AF 1 1064 

DIA 9 

NSA 1047 

OSD/JS 6 

PACOM 1 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5

Winter v. NSA, 569 F. Supp. 545, 548 (S.D. Cal. 1983); see also Gilmore v. NSA, No. C 92-3646, 1993 U.S. 

Dist. LEXIS 7694, at **26-27 (N.D. Cal. May 3, 1993) (finding that information on cryptography currently used 

by NSA “integrally related” to function and activity of intelligence gathering and thus protected). 

6

 Meeropol v. Smith, No. 75-1121, slip op. at 53-55 (D.D.C. Feb. 29, 1984), aff’d in relevant part & remanded in 

part sub nom. Meeropol v. Meese, 790 F.2d 942 (D.C. Cir. 1986). But see General Elec. Co. v. NRC, 750 F.2d 

1394, 1401 (7th Cir. 1984) (concluding that provision concerning technical information furnished by license 

applicants lacked sufficient specificity to qualify as Exemption 3 statute). 7

 Founding Church of Scientology v. NSA, 610 F.2d 824, 828 (D.C. Cir. 1979); Hayden v. NSA, 452 F. Supp. 

247,252 (D.D.C. 1978), aff’d, 608 F.2d 1381 (D.C. Cir. 1979). 
10 

 

 

Statute Type Information 

Withheld 

Case 

Citation

Number of Times Relied 

upon per Component 

Total 

Number 

for DoD

22 50 USCA 403-

1(i) 

Intelligence Sources and 

Methods 

Yes8 AF 3 911 

DIA 8 

DoD IG 1 

JFCOM 1 

NRO 4 

NSA 878 

OSD/JS 15 

PACOM 1 

23 50 USC §421 Identities of US Undercover 

Intelligence Officers, 

Agents, Informants and 

Sources 

No OSD/JS 1 1 

24 50 USC §432a NRO Operational Files 

Exemption 

No NRO 3 3 

25 50 USC §435 

Note Sec 1082, 

P.L. 102-190 

Information Concerning US 

Personnel Classified as 

POW/MIA During the 

Vietnam and Korean 

Conflicts (“McCain Bill”) 

No NSA 1 5 

OSD/JS 4 

26 50 USC 2411(c) Export Control Act No OSD/JS 3 3 

 

 

8

 CIA v. Sims, 471 U.S. 159, 167 (1985); see also Minier v. CIA, 88 F.3d 796, 801 (9th Cir. 1996) (finding that 

agency properly refused to confirm or deny existence of records concerning deceased person’s alleged 

employment relationship with CIA); Maynard v. CIA, 986 F.2d 547, 554 (1st Cir. 1993) (stating that under § 

403(d)(3) it is responsibility of Director of CIA to determine whether sources or methods should be disclosed); 

Krikorian v. Department of State, 984 F.2d 461, 465 (D.C. Cir. 1993) (same); Fitzgibbon v. CIA, 911 F.2d 755, 

761 (D.C. Cir. 1990) (same); Hunt v. CIA, 981 F.2d 1116, 1118 (9th Cir. 1992) (upholding agency’s “Glomar” 

response to request on foreign national, because acknowledgement of any records would reveal sources and 

methods); Knight v. CIA, 872 F.2d 660, 663 (8th Cir. 1989) (same); Levy v. CIA, No. 95-1276, slip op. at 14-17 

(D.D.C. Nov. 16, 1995) (same), aff’d, No. 96-5004 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 15, 1997); Roman v. Dailey, No. 97-1164, 

1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6708, at **10-11 (D.D.C. May 11, 1998) (concluding that agency properly refused to 

confirm or deny existence of records pertaining to agency personnel and spy satellite programs); Blazy v. Tenet, 

979 F. Supp. 10, 23-24 (D.D.C. 1997) (protecting intelligence sources and methods located in requester’s 

personnel file), summary affirmance granted, No. 97-5330 (D.C. Cir. May 12, 1998); Andrade v. CIA, No. 95- 

1215, 1997 WL 527347, at **3-5 (D.D.C. Aug. 18, 1997) (holding intelligence methods used in assessing 

employee fitness protectable); Earth Pledge Found. v. CIA, 988 F. Supp. 623, 627 (S.D.N.Y. 1996) (finding 

agency’s “Glomar” response proper because acknowledgement of records would generate “danger of revealing 

sources”), aff’d per curiam, 128 F.3d 788 (2d Cir. 1997) (unpublished table decision); Campbell v. United States 

Dep’t of Justice, No. 89-CV-3016, 1996 WL 554511, at *6 (D.D.C. Sept. 19, 1996) (“CIA director is to be 

afforded ‘great deference’ by courts determining the propriety of nondisclosure of intelligence sources”); cf. 

Linder v. DOD, 133 F.3d 17, 25 (D.C. Cir. 1998) (“[C]ourts must give ‘great deference’ to the Director of 

Central Intelligence’s determination that a classified document could reveal intelligence sources and methods and 

endanger national security.”) (non-FOIA case). 
11 

V. FOIA Requests

It should be noted that in the middle of the FY 08 reporting cycle, the DOJ changed the 

reporting requirements and directed agencies to no longer count pure Privacy Act (PA) 

requests as FOIA requests. See the footnote, below, on how this change impacted the 

numbers reported in Table 2. 

Table 2 – FY 08 FOIA Request Summary

FOIA Requests Received, Processed and Pending 

Component 

Number of Requests 

Pending as of Start of 

Fiscal Year 

Number of Requests 

Received in Fiscal Year 

Number of Requests 

Processed in Fiscal Year 

Number of Requests Pending 

as of End of Fiscal Year 

AF 1318 / 1136 8287 8351 1072 

ASBCA 0 20 20 0 

ARMY 4487 35688 35370 4805 

CENTCOM 148 220 178 190 

DCAA 3 / 6 114 117 3 

DCMA 38 / 30 180 172 38 

DeCA 0 64 64 0 

DFAS 100 / 9 238 236 11 

DIA 2795 1089 943 2941 

DISA 175 339 357 157 

DLA 134 5516 5541 109 

DoDEA 6 47 47 6 

DoD IG 34 / 43 386 377 52 

DSS 10691 / 0 81 79 2 

DTIC 2 54 51 5 

DTRA 12 159 153 18 

EUCOM 41 37 25 53 

JFCOM 33 28 12 49 

NAVY 2325 14405 14928 1802 

NGA 183 132 59 256 

NORTHCOM 4 38 38 4 

NRO 2 / 36 188 175 49 

NSA 472 / 386 1305 1358 333 

OSD/JS 2617 / 2565 2002 2322 2245 

PACOM 103 93 145 51 

SOCOM 283 158 198 243 

SOUTHCOM 127 138 168 97 

STRATCOM 4 42 42 4 

TRANSCOM 51 88 85 54 

TRICARE 7 92 88 11 

DoD Totals 26,1959 / 15,131 71,228 71,699 14,660 

 

9

 Column one should be the same number as the number of pending FOIA requests reported by each component at 

the end of FY 07 (which is the same number as the number at the start of FY 08). However, some components (and 

therefore the total DoD numbers) have two numbers in column one. In these cases, the first number of each pair 

includes both FOIA and PA pending requests. Due to the change in DOJ reporting requirements concerning PA 

requests, as indicated above, these components have reported a second number, which is the number of FOIA 

requests only pending at the start of FY 08. Additionally, the differences in numbers for DCAA, DoD IG, and NRO 

are due to better accounting methods. 
12 

Table 3 – Dispositions of all FOIA Requests Processed FY08

DISPOSITION OF FOIA REQUESTS – All Processed Requests 

Component 

Number 

of Full 

Grants 

Number of 

Partial 

Grants/Partial 

Denials 

Number of 

Full 

Denials 

Based on 

Exemption 

Number of Full Denials Based on Reasons Other than Exemptions 

No 

Records 

All 

Records 

Referred to 

another 

Component 

or Agency 

Request 

Withdrawn 

Fee 

Related 

Reasons 

Records 

not 

Reasonably 

Described 

Improper 

FOIA 

Request 

for Other 

Reason 

Not 

Agency 

Record 

Dupl

Requ

AF 2530 1259 245 1045 1625 649 142 112 169 150 14ASBCA 19 1 ARMY 15222 7686 822 3950 3414 965 398 493 1550 294 48CENTCOM 10 26 8 82 25 1 4 DCAA 25 16 6 30 19 5 7 9 DCMA 43 19 4 34 28 13 6 5 10 6 4 DeCA 21 17 1 7 9 4 2 2 1 DFAS 136 47 5 12 18 7 2 1 2 6 0 DIA 85 313 7 385 40 12 1 16 24 DISA 94 87 5 52 58 34 14 1 1 1 1DLA 4696 387 84 51 123 91 20 16 23 19 3DoDEA 4 32 1 1 3 4 2 DoD IG 19 181 44 67 42 5 1 5 11 2 DSS 40 17 2 15 1 4 DTIC 10 2 7 29 3 DTRA 7 56 1 28 3 22 4 10 2 EUCOM 3 8 3 5 6 JFCOM 2 2 6 2 NAVY 4910 3737 401 1091 2623 538 288 180 542 212 27NGA 8 2 11 7 4 6 2 9 5 4 NORTHCOM 4 15 1 16 NRO 17 64 12 42 4 3 2 24 7 NSA 40 296 751 86 26 16 7 2OSD/JS 385 446 103 202 308 321 65 61 67 198 8PACOM 25 16 10 6 64 16 2 6 SOCOM 32 15 1 19 39 33 2 6 4 10 9 SOUTHCOM 6 75 17 58 10 1 1 STRATCOM 2 17 7 9 7 TRANSCOM 24 35 15 3 3 4 TRICARE 32 29 3 10 1 8 3 2 

DoD Totals 28,451 14,901 2,554 7,245 8,574 2,796 978 904 2,413 944 1,1
13 

Table 4 - “Other” Reasons for Closing FOIA Initial Requests Based 

on Reasons Other than Exemptions

Component Description of “Other” Reason for 

Denial 

Relied 

on 

Total

AF 283 

Data base error, details not available 283 

ARMY 89 

Misdirected referral 53 

 Publicly sold documents 36 

CENTCOM 22 

Administratively closed 6 

Misdirected referral 12 

Requester didn't respond or unknown forwarding address 4 

DIA 60 

Misdirected referral 7 

No response to still interested letter 33 

Administratively closed 20 

DTRA 20 

Administratively closed 7 

Misdirected referral 12 

Document publicly available on Internet 1 

NAVY 135 

Administratively closed 1 

Misdirected referral 119 

Document publicly available 2 

Requester didn't respond or unknown forwarding address 13 

NGA 1 

Administratively closed 1 

NORTHCOM 2 

Misdirected referral 2 

NSA 110 

Not agency equity 23 

Administratively closed 87 

OSD/JS 80 

Litigation 16 

Requester address problems 12 

Administratively Closed 3 

Web site 49 

SOCOM 28 

Administratively closed 22 

Misdirected referral 2 

Requester did not respond for additional information 1 

Published on Web Site 3 

TRANSCOM 1 

Misdirected referral 1 

DoD Total 831 
14 

Table 5 – Disposition of FOIA Requests – Number of Times Exemption

Number of Times Exemptions Applied to Initial Requests 

Exemptions 5 U.S.C. §552(b) 

Components Ex. 1 Ex. 2 Ex. 3 Ex. 4 Ex. 5 Ex. 6 Ex. 7(A) Ex. 7(B) Ex. 7(C) Ex. 7(D) Ex. 7(E) Ex. 7(F) AF 58 94 136 269 212 614 68 4 336 8 10 2 ASBCA 1 1 ARMY 354 1691 197 615 717 6303 340 22 2644 70 23 12 CENTCOM 9 10 15 10 20 DCAA 5 2 17 3 DCMA 9 DeCA 1 5 14 4 2 DFAS 2 41 DIA 238 244 228 4 10 112 4 1 1 DISA 3 14 5 39 2 26 DLA 17 35 70 351 49 7 19 1 DoDEA 16 12 13 3 20 6 4 DoD IG 7 46 3 23 36 162 43 2 117 1 8 DSS 2 1 15 DTIC 1 1 DTRA 5 30 5 29 3 53 1 EUCOM 4 5 2 4 1 JFCOM 5 2 4 4 1 NAVY 64 169 285 243 500 2475 116 1997 36 23 2 NGA 5 2 5 1 3 NORTHCOM 3 1 6 5 1 NRO 58 6 59 3 1 21 2 8 NSA 974 81 1047 44 36 178 3 15 15 6 1 OSD/JS 252 157 103 108 126 250 8 11 3 5 PACOM 19 3 5 2 4 SOCOM 5 7 13 2 1 13 SOUTHCOM 73 60 72 1 17 68 3 STRATCOM 12 5 8 1 7 16 1 TRANSCOM 2 6 3 15 2 35 TRICARE 27 5 DoD Totals 2,150 2,664 2,247 1,527 2,064 10,513 588 30 5,169 136 81 17 % Used 7.9% 9.8% 8.3% 5.6% 7.6% 38.7% 2.2% 0.1% 19.0% 0.5% 0.3% 0.6% 0
15 

VI. Administrative Appeals of Initial Determinations of FOIA 

Requests

1 Not all components process administrative appeals. OSD/JS FOIA Appeals Branch 

processes the following components’ appeals: CENTCOM, DoDEA, DTIC, EUCOM, 

JFCOM, NORTHCOM, OSD/JS, PACOM, SOCOM, SOUTHCOM, TRANSCOM, and 

TRICARE. 

2 The following components had no appeals to report: ASBCA, DCAA, DCMA, DeCA, 

and DSS. 

Table 6 - Administrative Appeals

Received, Processed and Pending Administrative Appeals 

Components 

Number of 

Appeals 

Pending as of 

Start of Fiscal 

Year 

Number of 

Appeals 

Received in 

Fiscal Year 

Number of 

Appeals 

Processed in 

Fiscal Year 

Number of 

Appeals 

Pending as of 

End of Fiscal 

Year 

AF 48 63 96 15 

ASBCA 0 0 0 0 

ARMY 98 123 156 65 

DCAA 0 0 0 0 

DCMA 0 0 0 0 

DeCA 0 0 0 0 

DFAS 0 2 2 0 

DIA 164 47 20 191 

DISA 0 2 2 0 

DLA 2 20 16 6 

DoD IG 1 19 13 7 

DSS 0 0 0 0 

DTRA 1 1 2 0 

NAVY 2 398 355 45 

NGA 9 1 3 7 

NRO 3 3 2 4 

NSA 8 50 50 8 

OSD/JS 349 135 145 339 

DoD 685 864 862 687 

 
16 

Table 7 – Disposition of Administrative Appeals

Disposition of Administrative Appeals 

Components 

Number 

Affirmed 

on Appeal 

Number of Partially 

Affirmed & 

Partially 

Reversed/Remanded 

on Appeal 

Number 

Completely 

Reversed/ 

Remanded on 

Appeal 

Number 

of 

Appeals 

Closed 

Other 

Reasons 

Total 

AF 20 32 0 44 96 

ASBCA 0 0 0 0 0 

ARMY 49 41 13 53 156 

DCAA 0 0 0 0 0 

DCMA 0 0 0 0 0 

DeCA 0 0 0 0 0 

DFAS 1 0 0 1 2 

DIA 14 0 0 6 20 

DISA 1 1 0 0 2 

DLA 6 2 1 7 16 

DoD IG 5 6 0 2 13 

DSS 0 0 0 0 0 

DTRA 0 1 0 1 2 

NAVY 126 26 7 196 355 

NGA 3 0 0 0 3 

NRO 2 0 0 0 2 

NSA 13 1 0 36 50 

OSD/JS 5 28 16 96 145 

DoD 245 138 37 442 862 

 
17 

Table 8 – Reasons for Denial on Appeal

Reasons for Denial on Appeal – Number of Times Exemptions App

Exemptions 5 U.S.C. §552(b) 

Component Ex. 1 Ex. 2 Ex. 3 Ex. 4 Ex. 5 Ex. 6 

Ex. 

7(A) 

Ex. 

7(B) 

Ex. 

7(C) 

Ex. 

7(D) 

Ex. 

7(E) 

Ex. 

7(F) 

AF 10 5 10 2 8 14 0 1 6 1 0 0 ASBCA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ARMY 3 4 2 4 20 57 0 0 22 7 1 2 DCAA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DCMA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DeCA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DFAS 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DIA 14 12 7 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 DISA 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 DLA 0 0 2 2 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 DoD IG 0 1 0 0 1 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 DSS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DTIC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DTRA 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 NAVY 7 16 9 1 38 63 10 3 42 2 2 0 NGA 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NRO 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 NSA 16 0 16 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 OSD/JS 27 12 9 3 16 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 DoD 82 51 60 13 88 158 12 4 70 11 4 2 % of Total Times Used 14.8% 9.2% 10.8% 2.3% 15.9% 28.5% 2.2% .7% 12.6% 2.0% .7% .4% 
18 

Table 9 – Reason for Denial on Appeal Others than Exemption

Reasons Other Than Exemptions 

Component No Records 

Records 

Referred 

at Initial 

Level 

Request 

Withdrawn 

Fee 

Related 

Reasons 

Records not 

Reasonably 

Described 

Improper 

Request 

for Other 

Reasons 

Not 

Agency 

Record 

Duplicate 

Request 

on Appeal 

Appea

Litigat

AF 15 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 ASBCA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ARMY 19 1 0 5 9 0 0 0 2 DCAA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DCMA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DeCA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DFAS 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DIA 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 DISA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DLA 1 0 4 0 0 2 0 0 0 DoD IG 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DSS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DTIC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DTRA 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NAVY 33 6 2 2 1 7 1 2 1 NGA 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NRO 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NSA 5 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 OSD/JS 14 6 13 2 12 4 3 2 30 DoD 94 13 23 12 23 13 4 5 33 
19 

The AF and NSA had reporting difficulties with their automated systems and were unable 

to provide more details. 

Table 10 – Appeals “Other”

Component 

Description of "Other" 

Reason for Denial on 

Appeal from Table 9 

Relied 

Upon Total 

AF 25 

Data not captured 25 

ARMY 

17 

Appeal rendered moot by IDA 

providing responsive records 9 

 Beyond appeal time limit 8 

DIA 2 

Administratively closed 2 

NAVY 141 

Request for reconsideration, not 

appeal 

8 

 Beyond appeal time limit 2 

 Administratively closed 2 

 Privacy Act, not FOIA 3 

 Foreign Language 1 

 Data not captured 125 

NSA 28 

Not Agency Equity 2 

 Administratively closed 6 

 Data not captured 20 

DoD 213 

 
20 

Table 11 – Response Times for Administrative Appeals

Administrative Appeals Statistics 

Components 

Median 

Number of 

Days 

Average 

Number of 

Days 

Lowest 

Number of 

Days 

Highest 

Number of 

Days 

AF 48 268 1 1510 

ARMY 27 107 1 644 

DFAS 13 13 1 25 

DIA 631 765 39 3278 

DISA 105 105 30 180 

DLA N/A 44 1 103 

DoD IG 15 18 5 46 

DTRA 37 37 36 38 

NAVY 68 46 2 302 

NGA 854 801 309 1364 

NRO 43 44 40 47 

NSA 29 33 5 102 

OSD/JS 78 364 2 2897 

DoD N/A10 153 1 3,278 

 

 

10 Components marked N/A have multiple feeder sub-components and were not able to compute medians. 
21 

Table 12 – Dates of Receipt and Number of Days Open of Ten Oldest Pending A

Appeals by Component

Ten Oldest Administrative Appeals by Dates Received 

Components 10th Oldest 9th 8th 7th 6th 5th 4th 3rd AF 08/06/08 06/13/08 06/13/08 06/13/08 05/19/08 01/28/08 11/19/07 01/31/05 Number of Days Pending 39 76 76 76 94 173 218 921 ARMY 07/18/07 06/05/07 05/31/07 05/25/07 03/26/07 02/06/07 09/14/06 08/04/06 Number of Days Pending 303 333 336 339 383 416 512 540 DIA 11/24/03 10/06/03 03/13/03 03/06/03 01/29/03 02/01/01 11/20/98 07/08/98 Number of Days Pending 1215 1248 1392 1397 1422 1920 2470 2564 DLA 09/09/08 09/10/08 06/04/08 05/30/08 Number of Days Pending 16 15 83 86 DoD IG 09/26/08 08/05/08 07/08/08 07/08/08 06/25/08 Number of Days Pending 3 40 60 60 68 NAVY 04/08/08 03/28/08 02/29/08 02/29/08 02/29/08 11/15/07 07/16/07 07/16/07 Number of Days Pending 123 130 150 150 150 220 305 305 NGA 11/20/06 06/08/06 06/14/06 06/14/06 06/30/06 Number of Days Pending 467 580 576 576 564 NRO 08/13/08 10/24/07 Number of Days Pending 34 235 NSA 09/30/08 09/04/08 08/28/08 07/08/08 06/30/08 06/04/08 Number of Days Pending 1 19 23 60 65 83 OSD/JS 10/27/98 10/21/98 09/02/98 06/09/98 12/17/97 12/03/97 10/15/97 06/16/97 Number of Days Pending 2487 2491 2524 2584 2702 2712 2745 2829 DoD 09/02/98 06/09/98 12/17/97 12/03/97 10/15/97 08/11/97 06/16/97 03/17/97 Number of Days Pending 2,524 2,584 2,702 2,712 2,745 2,790 2,829 2,893 
22 

VII. FOIA Requests: Response Time for Processed and Pending 

FOIA Requests

Due to the decentralized processing and tracking of FOIA requests within the DoD and 

because the DoD does not have the means to centrally capture all the required data, it is 

not possible to calculate DoD medians and the medians for some components that have 

more than one FOIA requester service center. Air Force database problems led to the 

exclusion of some data. The DoD is currently working on having a new data collection 

system in place for the FY 09 Report.
23 

 Table 13 – All Processed Perfected Requests

11 Components marked N/A have multiple feeder sub-components and were not able to compute medians. AF database problem did not 

Response Time for All Processed Perfected Requests 

Simple Complex 

Component 

Median 

Number 

of 

Days11

Average Number 

of Days 

Lowest 

Number 

of Days 

Highest 

Number 

of Days 

Median 

Number 

of Days 

Average Number 

of Days 

Lowest 

Number 

of Days 

Highest 

Number 

of Days 

Median 

Number 

of Days 

AveNum

of D

AF 12 13 N/A N/A 17 86 N/A N/A 44 2ASBCA 2 2 1 3 8 13 2 37 ARMY 6 36 1 1725 30 41 1 1579 5 2CENTCOM 19 34 1 135 23 138 1 819 DCAA 7 7 1 22 13 24 1 249 7 DCMA 5 8 1 31 66 71 20 371 DeCA 4 5 1 17 26 28 18 43 DFAS 14 18 1 187 32 39 2 111 DIA 10 10 1 20 277 516 21 3200 DISA 36 110 1 625 276 94 1 316 DLA N/A 15 1 573 N/A 30 1 603 DoDEA 24 24 3 59 82 90 57 166 DoD IG 15 18 5 46 DSS 30 25 1 101 DTIC 13 12 1 21 DTRA 6 7 1 24 24 50 1 1017 EUCOM 65 71 3 247 254 266 245 300 JFCOM 108 184 8 608 31 31 28 41 NAVY 15 33 1 868 26 133 1 2477 2 NGA 149 194 118 655 362 370 88 845 NORTHCOM 13 11 1 24 NRO 9 13 1 47 96 219 41 1011 NSA 9 78 1 2361 2012 1785 191 4277 12 1OSD/JS 3 11 1 669 237 486 1 4213 687 6PACOM N/A 138 1 1724 N/A 489 2 2694 N/A 1SOCOM 6 162 1 1553 305 598 2 2797 539 5SOUTHCOM 140 163 15 420 STRATCOM 13 14 1 49 29 38 5 92 5 1TRANSCOM 7 8 1 24 43 51 29 138 TRICARE 8 22 1 164 47 89 21 382 DoD N/A 30 1 2361 N/A 190 1 4277 N/A 2
24 

Table 14 – Statistics for Granted Perfected Requests

12Components marked N/A have multiple feeder sub-components and were not able to compute medians. 13 AF database problem did not capture this information. 

Response Time for Perfected Requests for Which Information Was G

Simple Complex 

Component

Median 

Number 

of Days12

Average 

Number 

of Days 

Lowest 

Number 

of Days 

Highest 

Number 

of Days 

Median 

Number 

of Days 

Average 

Number 

of Days 

Lowest 

Number 

of Days 

Highest 

Number 

of Days 

Median 

Number of 

Days 

Aver

Num

of D

AF13 12 13 N/A N/A 17 86 N/A N/A 44 20 ASBCA 2 2 1 3 8 13 2 37 ARMY 3 25 1 1748 3 50 1 804 3 11 CENTCOM 34 66 17 215 207 263 12 819 DCAA 10 10 1 20 36 47 1 249 DCMA 9 10 1 26 47 58 21 215 DeCA 4 5 1 17 26 28 18 43 DFAS 11 15 1 187 46 39 7 73 DIA 6 9 1 16 351 546 23 3200 DISA 165 163 1 359 45 106 1 316 DLA N/A 4 1 484 N/A 36 1 499 DoDEA 26 27 4 59 80 90 57 166 DoD IG 15 20 5 46 DSS 30 25 1 101 DTIC 16 15 11 19 DTRA 6 9 2 24 48 59 1 308 EUCOM 78 103 6 247 254 266 245 300 JFCOM 383 343 38 608 33 33 33 33 NAVY 14 37 1 868 32 138 1 1825 6 9 NGA 449 380 174 533 532 502 286 631 NORTHCOM 11 12 1 20 NRO 9 15 6 37 89 89 41 130 NSA 120 270 2 2361 699 1508 191 4277 12 20OSD/JS 11 28 1 270 283 534 2 4213 PACOM N/A 232 1 1724 N/A 835 7 2694 SOCOM 14 40 2 183 120 306 3 2795 SOUTHCOM 38 77 8 210 STRATCOM 19 22 13 38 42 52 20 92 29 29 TRANSCOM 7 11 1 21 43 51 29 138 TRICARE 8 26 1 164 60 94 1 382 DoD N/A 30 1 2,361 N/A 190 1 4,277 N/A 23 
25 

Table 15 - Processed Perfected Simple Requests

Processed Perfected Requests Simple -- Response Times in Day Incre

Component 1-20 Days 21-40 41-60 61-80 81-100 101- 120 121- 140 141- 160 161- 180 181- 200 201- 300 30

4

AF 5578 1183 ASBCA 15 ARMY 15384 2051 837 513 388 407 281 188 141 73 263 1CENTCOM 34 20 10 1 1 DCAA 70 1 DCMA 105 8 DeCA 60 DFAS 150 44 13 3 1 DIA 218 DISA 139 12 9 5 2 1 5 1 7 6 14 1DLA 4941 30 8 10 15 19 19 28 25 19 92 2DoDEA 12 17 4 DoD IG 264 35 3 6 2 1 1 1 DSS 40 21 12 4 1 1 DTIC 50 1 DTRA 24 1 EUCOM 8 1 5 1 4 2 JFCOM 2 1 1 1 1 NAVY 8014 1116 956 378 277 184 54 41 24 23 52 1NGA 8 2 1 1 NORTHCOM 37 1 NRO 109 27 1 NSA 961 75 29 22 14 14 17 15 12 4 24 2OSD/JS 811 34 10 6 3 4 6 5 1 1 4 PACOM 40 3 3 1 2 3 2 3 SOCOM 20 1 2 4 7 1 7 SOUTHCOM 4 27 55 7 10 33 2STRATCOM 23 7 TRANSCOM 34 3 TRICARE 31 2 1 1 1 1 DoD 37,186 4,696 1,924 957 761 638 398 281 228 130 495 2
26 

Table 16 – Processed Perfected Complex Requests

Processed Perfected Requests Complex-- Response Times in Day Incre

Component 1-20 Days 21-40 41-60 61-80 81- 100 101- 120 121- 140 141- 160 161- 180 181- 200 201- 300 301

40

AF 452 248 140 98 78 43 53 49 153 87 ASBCA 4 1 ARMY 10524 1573 415 268 220 232 183 122 92 48 171 11CENTCOM 54 9 5 3 3 0 2 4 0 1 10 7 DCAA 31 7 4 1 1 1 DCMA 1 6 11 6 2 1 1 1 DeCA 1 2 1 DFAS 8 6 5 4 2 DIA 75 48 42 39 19 25 15 13 16 86 57 DISA 28 44 8 6 6 4 1 1 3 6 17 11 DLA 133 93 29 20 2 3 3 1 1 1 3 5 DoDEA 1 6 3 1 1 1 DoD IG 26 11 6 3 3 1 2 3 1 DSS DTIC DTRA 72 23 14 2 7 6 1 2 EUCOM 4 JFCOM 3 1 NAVY 1187 707 533 229 125 68 61 34 29 334 147 65 NGA 4 1 4 4 3 2 1 1 2 9 NORTHCOM NRO 9 6 5 4 1 1 5 3 NSA 1 2 4 OSD/JS 211 126 77 68 46 41 26 37 31 27 102 11PACOM 2 1 5 3 1 3 1 1 1 3 5 SOCOM 5 22 16 37 5 9 1 4 7 4 22 19 SOUTHCOM STRATCOM 2 2 3 1 2 TRANSCOM 12 8 3 4 1 4 TRICARE 8 14 7 5 3 3 1 2 1 5 2 DoD 12,301 2,738 1,662 965 616 497 393 265 234 491 745 49
27 

Table 17 – Processed Expedited Requests

Processed Expedited Requests - Response Times in Day Incremen

Component 1-20 Days 21-40 41-60 61-80 81-100 101- 120 121- 140 141- 160 161- 180 181- 200 201- 300 AF 34 ASBCA ARMY 231 28 11 7 6 6 5 3 2 1 4 CENTCOM DCAA 1 DCMA DeCA DFAS DIA DISA DLA DoDEA DoD IG DSS DTIC DTRA EUCOM JFCOM NAVY 37 2 NGA NORTHCOM NRO NSA 2 1 OSD/JS PACOM 2 SOCOM 1 1 0 SOUTHCOM STRATCOM 1 1 TRANSCOM TRICARE DoD 309 32 11 7 7 6 5 3 2 1 4 
28 

Table 18 - All Pending Perfected Requests

All Pending Perfected Requests 

Component 

Simple Complex Expedited 

Number 

Pending 

Median 

Number 

of Days 

Average 

Number 

of Days 

Number 

Pending 

Median 

Number 

of Days 

Average 

Number 

of Days 

Number 

Pending 

Median 

Number 

of Days 

Average 

Number 

of Days 

AF 859 35 63 251 383 494 

ASBCA 0 0 0 0 0 0 

ARMY 2870 14 22 1866 89 153 48 10 17 

CENTCOM 32 93 103 158 339 370 

DCAA 3 4 4 0 0 0 

DCMA 21 20 20 17 115 237 

DeCA 60 4 5 1 26 28 

DFAS 11 8 11 0 0 0 

DIA 43 11 11 2898 627 788 

DISA 115 373 600 42 278 265 

DLA 76 N/A 34 33 N/A 46 

DoDEA 5 0 6 1 106 106 

DoD IG 52 33 163 0 0 0 

DSS 2 55 55 0 0 0 

DTIC 5 12 14 0 0 0 

DTRA 3 9 10 15 38 98 

EUCOM 7 65 81 22 93 199 

JFCOM 47 299 274 2 382 382 

NAVY 806 15 84 994 95 132 

NGA 12 396 325 230 280 273 

NORTHCOM 38 13 11 0 0 0 

NRO 28 110 131 10 421 507 

NSA 190 122 295 103 597 1150 

OSD/JS 57 174 153 2179 476 745 2 618 618 

PACOM 3 N/A 834 44 N/A 983 

SOCOM 22 469 520 150 415 561 6 698 660 

SOUTHCOM 97 152 142 0 0 0 

STRATCOM 2 8 10 2 10 1597 

TRANSCOM 0 0 0 16 23 60 

TRICARE 1 23 23 10 24 52 

DoD 5,369 N/A 70 9,043 N/A 536 56 N/A 107 
29 

Table 19 – Ten Oldest Perfected Requests

Ten Oldest Pending Perfected Requests 

Component 10th Oldest 9th 8th 7th 6th 5th 4th 3rd AF 1/3/02 8/1/01 1/21/00 1/4/00 11/9/99 11/17/98 6/27/97 5/16/97 Number of Days Pending 1690 1794 2179 2191 2227 2473 2820 2849 ASBCA * Number of Days Pending none ARMY 8/12/03 6/23/03 6/2/03 2/4/03 1/28/03 7/9/02 6/10/02 4/16/02 Number of Days Pending 1286 1321 1336 1418 1423 1561 1581 1619 CENTCOM 7/8/05 5/23/05 5/18/05 5/4/05 3/24/05 12/1/04 7/6/04 3/15/04 Number of Days Pending 810 842 845 855 884 961 1063 1141 DCAA * Number of Days Pending None DCMA 6/5/08 5/16/08 6/19/07 6/13/07 2/5/07 2/1/07 1/18/07 11/20/06 Number of Days Pending 82 95 323 327 417 419 429 467 DeCA * Number of Days Pending none DFAS 9/30/08 9/25/08 9/24/08 9/22/08 9/19/08 9/17/08 9/11/08 9/10/08 Number of Days Pending 1 4 5 7 8 10 14 15 DIA 9/17/97 6/18/97 6/6/97 6/6/97 5/8/97 9/25/96 8/12/96 8/12/96 Number of Days Pending 2764 2827 2835 2835 2855 3009 3040 3040 DISA 12/23/05 10/3/05 12/23/04 10/8/04 5/18/04 5/10/04 5/7/04 5/4/04 Number of Days Pending 694 750 945 996 1095 1101 1102 1105 DLA 8/14/08 8/8/08 8/1/08 8/1/08 5/19/08 3/25/08 1/28/08 11/16/07 Number of Days Pending 33 37 42 42 94 133 173 219 DoDEA 8/26/08 Number of Days Pending 25 DoD IG 4/24/07 10/23/06 8/28/06 4/26/06 3/29/06 3/8/06 3/8/06 8/11/05 Number of Days Pending 362 486 524 610 630 645 645 786 DSS Number of Days Pending DTIC 9/23/08 9/22/08 9/18/08 Number of Days Pending 6 7 9 
30 

Ten Oldest Pending Perfected Requests 

Component 10th Oldest 9th 8th 7th 6th 5th 4th 3rd DTRA 8/13/08 7/31/08 7/28/08 7/8/08 5/30/08 5/30/08 5/2/08 8/5/08 Number of Days Pending 34 43 46 60 86 86 105 40 EUCOM 12/20/07 12/18/07 12/19/07 10/23/07 9/24/07 8/17/07 1/12/07 11/22/06 Number of Days Pending 196 198 197 236 256 281 432 465 JFCOM 5/14/07 3/7/07 11/8/06 10/25/06 10/3/06 8/15/06 6/20/06 5/15/06 Number of Days Pending 348 396 474 484 499 533 572 597 NAVY 6/24/04 6/24/04 3/23/04 9/23/03 1/15/03 2/1/00 8/13/99 7/27/99 Number of Days Pending 1070 1070 1135 1257 1431 2172 2287 2300 NGA 7/7/06 7/6/06 7/6/06 7/6/06 6/30/06 6/14/06 6/14/06 6/8/06 Number of Days Pending 560 561 561 561 564 576 576 580 NORTHCOM * Number of Days Pending none NRO 3/30/07 3/23/07 3/15/07 2/27/07 2/20/07 2/5/07 2/5/07 8/2/06 Number of Days Pending 379 384 390 402 407 417 417 542 NSA 5/16/96 5/2/96 4/22/96 3/29/96 3/28/96 11/16/95 7/13/95 3/15/94 Number of Days Pending 3100 3110 3118 3134 3135 3225 3312 3646 OSD/JS 1/27/94 1/25/94 12/27/93 12/3/93 11/23/93 11/23/93 8/17/93 7/19/93 Number of Days Pending 3678 3680 3699 3714 3721 3721 3788 3809 PACOM 10/13/04 8/9/04 6/21/04 6/21/04 10/20/03 10/14/03 8/18/03 4/8/03 Number of Days Pending 994 1039 1073 1073 1239 1243 1282 1374 SOCOM 12/13/02 7/9/02 9/5/01 9/4/01 3/27/01 9/25/00 4/12/00 3/23/00 Number of Days Pending 1452 1561 1770 1771 1883 2007 2122 2136 SOUTHCOM 2/4/08 1/8/08 11/15/07 10/9/07 9/27/07 8/24/07 8/1/07 7/19/07 Number of Days Pending 168 186 220 246 253 276 293 302 STRATCOM 9/30/08 9/30/08 Number of Days Pending 1 1 TRANSCOM 10/30/07 2/26/08 4/22/08 6/12/08 6/16/08 6/24/08 6/25/08 7/14/08 Number of Days Pending 231 153 113 77 75 69 68 56 TRICARE 9/30/08 9/25/08 9/23/08 8/28/08 8/26/08 7/29/08 7/24/08 5/15/08 Number of Days Pending 1 4 6 23 25 45 48 96 DoD 1/25/94 12/27/93 12/3/93 11/23/93 11/23/93 8/17/93 7/19/93 3/16/93 Number of Days Pending 3,680 3,699 3,714 3,721 3,721 3,788 3,809 3,896 
31 

VIII. Requests for Expedited Processing and Requests for Fee 

Waivers

AF, NSA, and OSD/JS were unable track the data necessary to compute the median and 

average numbers of days for expedited processing adjudication during FY08. Components 

not listed did not have Expedited or Fee Waiver requests. 

Table 20 - Expedited Requests 

Request for Expedited Processing 

Component Number 

Granted 

Number 

Denied 

Median 

Number of 

Days to 

Adjudicate 

Average Number 

of Days to 

Adjudicate 

Number 

Adjudicated 

Within 10 days 

AF 34 0 16 N/A N/A 

ARMY 113 416 6 11 85 

DCAA 1 3 9 20 2 

DIA 0 6 1 2 6 

NAVY 24 24 2 6 4 

NORTHCOM 0 3 3 5 3 

NSA 16 8 N/A 8 19 

OSD/JS 2 96 N/A N/A 98 

PACOM 0 2 10 N/A 2 

SOCOM 0 2 14 14 1 

STRATCOM 2 0 5 17 1 

TRANSCOM 1 3 1 1 4 

DoD 193 563 N/A14 1015 225 

 

 

14 Components marked N/A have multiple feeder sub-components and were not able to compute medians. 15 Components marked N/A were unable to provide data, DoD average computed using data reported. 
32 

Table 21 – Fee Waivers

Requests for Fee Waivers 

Component Number 

Granted 

Number 

Denied 

Median 

Days 

Average Number of 

Days to Adjudicate 

ARMY 352 251 32 75 

DCAA 1 15 13 14 

DCMA 1 0 1 1 

DeCA 0 1 1 1 

DoDEA 1 0 8 8 

NAVY 938 30 243 285 

NORTHCOM 0 3 3 5 

NSA 11 13 24 45 

OSD/JS 0 50 N/A N/A 

SOCOM 0 2 65 65 

STRATCOM 2 1 9 11 

TRANSCOM 0 3 1 1 

TRICARE 5 0 23 49 

DoD 1,311 369 N/A16 19817

 

 

16 OSD/JS information technology system was unable to collect the data for this requirement in FY08. Due to DoD 

decentralized system, DoD is not able to compute median. 

17 Component marked N/A was unable to provide data, DoD average computed using data reported. 
33 

IX. FOIA Personnel and Costs

Table 22 – Personnel and Estimated Costs

Personnel Costs 

Component

Number 

Full-Time 

FOIA 

Employees

Number of 

Equivalent 

Full-Time 

FOIA 

Employees 

Total 

Number 

of Full 

Time 

FOIA 

Staff 

(Sum of 

column 

1 and 2)

Processing Costs 

(At initial request 

and appeal level) 

Litigation 

Related Costs Total Costs 

AF 113 0 113.00 7,585,999.60 433,400.00 8,019,399.60 

ASBCA 1 0 1.00 1,200.00 0.00 1,200.00 

ARMY 110 125.29 235.29 23,668,279.00 377,414.00 24,045,693.00 

CENTCOM 3 6.40 9.40 2,634,833.00 176,750.00 2,811,583.00 

DCAA 1 3.00 4.00 160,664.25 0.00 160,664.25 

DCMA 3 1.00 4.00 706,600.00 1,960.00 708,560.00 

DeCA 0 1.25 1.25 15,006.75 0.00 15,006.75 

DFAS 0 5.00 5.00 188,598.00 0.00 188,598.00 

DIA 16 2.00 18.00 2,764,886.60 406,263.39 3,171,149.99 

DISA 3 0 3.00 219,449.00 0.00 219,449.00 

DLA 8 4.60 12.60 1,844,540.00 28,976.00 1,873,516.00 

DoDEA 1 0 1.00 69,000.00 0.00 69,000.00 

DoD IG 4 0 4.00 360,615.00 66,000.00 426,615.00 

DSS 1 0 1.00 125,907.00 0.00 125,907.00 

DTIC 0 0.30 0.30 44,958.00 0.00 44,958.00 

DTRA 4 0 4.00 699,163.00 0.00 699,163.00 

EUCOM 0 0.50 0.50 22,472.00 0.00 22,472.00 

JFCOM 1 0.85 1.85 162,505.00 0.00 162,505.00 

NAVY 50 95.00 145.00 11,352,016.00 83,567.00 11,435,583.00 

NGA 1 0.02 1.02 100,000.00 0.00 100,000.00 

NORTHCOM 1 0 1.00 80,000.00 0.00 80,000.00 

NRO 4 0.50 4.50 500,000.00 1,500.00 501,500.00 

NSA 17 20.64 37.64 6,113,410.00 124,144.00 6,237,554.00 

OSD/JS 52 6.25 58.25 6,835,567.00 1,037,300.00 7,872,867.00 

PACOM 0 1.75 1.75 166,445.00 0.00 166,445.00 

SOCOM 9 2.65 11.65 719,282.32 0.00 719,282.32 

SOUTHCOM 2 1.45 3.45 275,000.00 500,000.00 775,000.00 

STRATCOM 0 1.00 1.00 38,560.00 0.00 38,560.00 

TRANSCOM 1 3.00 4.00 52,000.00 0.00 52,000.00 

TRICARE 1 0.20 1.20 10,947.45 0.00 10,947.45 

DoD 407 282.65 689.65 $67,517,903.97 $3,237,274.39 $70,755,178.36
34 

X. Fees Collected For Processing Requests

Table 23 – Fees Collected and Percent of Cost Recovered

Fees Collected for Processing Requests 

Component Total Amount of Fees Collected Percentage of Total Costs 

AF 76,035.47 1.0023131 

ASBCA 0.00 0.0000000 

ARMY 223,683.00 0.9450751 

CENTCOM 0.00 0.0000000 

DCAA 2,559.90 1.5933227 

DCMA 6,471.45 0.9158576 

DeCA 2,527.06 16.8394889 

DFAS 4,596.83 2.4373694 

DIA 0.00 0.0000000 

DISA 8,101.65 3.6918145 

DLA 29,359.00 1.5916706 

DoDEA 417.14 0.6045507 

DoD IG 0.00 0.0000000 

DSS 0.00 0.0000000 

DTIC 0.00 0.0000000 

DTRA 2,238.10 0.3201113 

EUCOM 0.00 0.0000000 

JFCOM 0.00 0.0000000 

NAVY 204,017.00 1.7971874 

NGA 0.00 0.0000000 

NORTHCOM 0.00 0.0000000 

NRO 206.10 0.0412200 

NSA 10,001.00 0.1635912 

OSD/JS 16,512.39 0.2415658 

PACOM 486.00 0.2919883 

SOCOM 796.30 0.1107076 

SOUTHCOM 23,456.00 8.5294545 

STRATCOM 0.00 0.0000000 

TRANSCOM 4,707.70 9.0532692 

TRICARE 1,706.00 15.5835377 

DoD $617,878.09 0.9151322% 

 
35 

XI. FOIA Regulations

A. The Department of Defense (DoD) Freedom of Information Act Program Regulation, DoD 

 5400.7-R, September 4, 1998, which provides guidance regarding administration of FOIA 

Program within the DoD, can be found at:

http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/540007r.pdf

B. The Fee Schedule is Chapter 6 of the above regulation and as modified at: 

http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/foiafees.pdf

C. Additional Department of Defense FOIA documents and hyperlinks can be found by 

 accessing the following Universal Resource Locator: 

http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/dfoipo/
36 

XII. Backlogs, Consultations, and Comparisons

1 Not all components process administrative appeals. OSD/JS FOIA Appeals Branch 

processes the following components’ appeals: CENTCOM, DoDEA, DTIC, EUCOM, 

JFCOM, NORTHCOM, PACOM, SOCOM, SOUTHCOM, TRANSCOM, and 

TRICARE. 

2 The following components had no appeals to report: ASBCA, DCAA, DCMA, DeCA, 

and DSS. 

Table 24 – Backlogged Requests

Backlogs of FOIA Requests and Administrative Appeals 

Component Number of Backlogged Requests as 

of End of Fiscal Year 08 

Number of Backlogged Appeals as 

of End of Fiscal Year 08 

AF 789 13 

ASBCA 0 0 

ARMY 2950 55 

CENTCOM 182 0 

DCAA 0 0 

DCMA 25 0 

DeCA 0 0 

DFAS 0 0 

DIA 2898 191 

DISA 157 0 

DLA 27 6 

DoDEA 3 0 

DoD IG 28 7 

DSS 2 0 

DTIC 0 0 

DTRA 10 0 

EUCOM 53 1 

JFCOM 48 0 

NAVY 1277 45 

NGA 221 7 

NORTHCOM 0 0 

NRO 0 0 

NSA 282 7 

OSD/JS 2245 339 

PACOM 37 0 

SOCOM 240 1 

SOUTHCOM 0 0 

STRATCOM 1 0 

TRANSCOM 47 3 

TRICARE 11 0 

DoD 11,533 675 
37 

Historically, the DoD has not tracked “consultations” separately from FOIA requests. 

The Department of Justice directed agencies to track and report on consultations 

separately beginning July 1, 2008, if feasible. On that date, some DoD components were 

able to retroactively determine which of their open FOIA requests were “consultations;” 

however, most did not. At the end of FY 08, some components still were not able to 

configure their data tracking systems to account for consultations. All components are 

now tracking consultations separately. 

Table 25 - Consultations on FOIA Requests

Consultations for FY08 

Component

Number of 

Consultations 

Received from 

Other Agencies 

Pending at Start 

of FY08 

Number of 

Consultations 

Received from 

Other Agencies 

Number of 

Consultations 

Processed by 

DoD 

Number of 

Consultations 

Pending at End of 

FY08 

AF 0 0 0 0 

ASBCA 0 0 0 0 

ARMY 80 191 193 78 

CENTCOM 0 5 0 5 

DCAA 0 0 0 0 

DCMA 0 1 1 0 

DeCA 0 0 0 0 

DFAS 0 7 7 0 

DIA 268 149 155 262 

DISA 0 1 0 1 

DLA 0 0 0 0 

DoDEA 0 2 2 0 

DoD IG 0 2 2 0 

DSS 0 0 0 0 

DTIC 0 0 0 0 

DTRA 0 0 0 0 

EUCOM 0 2 0 2 

JFCOM 0 3 3 0 

NAVY 82 384 320 146 

NGA 98 80 35 143 

NORTHCOM 0 2 2 0 

NRO 0 3 1 2 

NSA 77 170 206 41 

OSD/JS 0 52 24 28 

PACOM 0 8 4 4 

SOCOM 17 10 14 13 

SOUTHCOM 0 0 0 0 

STRATCOM 0 1 1 0 

TRANSCOM 38 23 27 34 

TRICARE 0 0 0 0 

DoD 660 1096 997 759 
38

Table 26 – Ten Oldest Consultations

Ten Oldest Consultations Pending 

Component 10th Oldest 9th 8th 7th 6th 5th 4th 3rd ARMY 11/6/07 10/29/07 10/29/07 10/29/07 10/29/07 9/18/07 8/27/07 3/20/07 Number of Days Pending 226 232 232 232 232 260 275 387 CENTCOM 8/22/08 8/7/08 7/30/08 Number of Days Pending 27 38 44 DIA 1/6/03 12/10/02 9/27/02 9/13/02 5/13/02 3/12/03 2/6/02 1/24/02 Number of Days Pending 1438 1455 1504 1514 1600 1393 1667 1676 DISA Number of Days Pending EUCOM Number of Days Pending NAVY 8/8/08 7/2/08 Number of Days Pending 37 63 NGA 9/14/06 9/1/06 8/28/06 8/28/06 8/15/06 7/31/06 7/12/06 6/27/06 Number of Days Pending 512 520 524 524 533 544 557 567 NRO Number of Days Pending NSA 3/27/07 6/22/06 5/30/06 5/26/06 2/16/06 12/15/06 5/22/03 11/21/01 Number of Days Pending 382 570 587 588 658 449 1342 1717 OSD/JS 7/28/08 7/25/08 7/16/08 7/9/08 7/9/08 7/9/08 7/8/08 7/8/08 Number of Days Pending 46 47 54 59 59 59 60 60 PACOM 9/22/08 9/22/08 Number of Days Pending 7 7 SOCOM 7/7/08 6/30/08 6/18/08 1/7/08 6/22/07 6/20/07 4/16/07 2/12/07 Number of Days Pending 61 65 73 187 320 322 368 412 TRANSCOM 11/28/00 12/1/99 11/23/99 6/23/97 2/28/97 1/31/97 7/22/96 6/30/95 Number of Days Pending 1964 2213 2218 2824 2904 2923 3055 3320 DoD 12/1/99 11/23/99 11/24/98 6/23/97 2/28/97 1/31/97 7/22/96 6/30/95 Number of Days Pending 2213 2218 2468 2824 2904 2923 3055 3320 
39 

Table 27 – Comparison with Previous Year’s FOIA Workload

Comparing FY07 and FY08 Performance 

Component

Number of Requests Received Number of Requests Processed 

Number Received 

from FY07 Report18

Number Received 

from FY08 Report 

Number Processed 

from FY07 Report 

Number Processed 

from FY08 Report 

AF 8126 8287 8395 8351 

ASBCA 16 20 17 20 

ARMY 34589 35688 33496 35370 

CENTCOM 328 220 380 178 

DCAA 86 114 94 117 

DCMA 179 180 169 172 

DeCA 76 64 101 64 

DFAS 2577 / 232 238 2487 / 223 236 

DIA 830 1089 532 943 

DISA 305 339 314 357 

DLA 7490 5516 7513 5541 

DoDEA 77 47 69 47 

DoD IG 303 386 308 377 

DSS 10347 / 0 81 3773 / 0 79 

DTIC 43 54 49 51 

DTRA 126 159 147 153 

EUCOM 37 37 20 25 

JFCOM 53 28 53 12 

NAVY 15674 14405 15542 14928 

NGA 183 132 92 59 

NORTHCOM 52 38 52 38 

NRO 156 188 172 175 

NSA 1175 1305 1325 1358 

OSD/JS 2786 2002 2589 2322 

PACOM 80 93 71 145 

SOCOM 259 158 201 198 

SOUTHCOM 165 138 261 168 

STRATCOM 37 42 37 42 

TRANSCOM 69 88 66 85 

TRICARE 76 92 67 88 

DoD 86,299 / 73,608 71,228 78,392 / 72,355 71,699 

 

18 Column one and three should be the same number as the number of received and processed FOIA requests 

reported by each Component at the end of FY 07. However, the DoD total and some Component totals have two 

numbers in columns one and three. In these cases, the first number of each pair includes both FOIA and PA pending 

requests. Due to the change in DOJ reporting requirements concerning PA requests, as indicated on page 12, these 

Components have reported a second number, which includes only FOIA requests and not PA requests.