National Aeronautics and Space Administration

2022 CHIEF FOIA OFFICER REPORT 
Mr. Marc Etkind

Chief FOIA Officer

Associate Administrator

Office of Communications

Section 1: Steps Taken to Apply the Presumption of Openness

The guiding principle underlying DOJ’s FOIA Guidelines is the presumption of openness.

Please answer the following questions in order to describe the steps your agency has taken to 

ensure that the presumption of openness is being applied to all decisions involving the FOIA. 

You may also include any additional information that illustrates how your agency is working to 

apply the presumption of openness.

A. FOIA Leadership

1. The FOIA requires each agency to designate a Chief FOIA Officer who is a senior official at 

the Assistant Secretary or equivalent level. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(j)(1) (2018). Is your 

agency’s Chief FOIA Officer at this level? 

ANSWER: Yes

2. Please provide the name and title of your agency’s Chief FOIA Officer.

ANSWER: Mr. Marc Etkind, Associate Administrator for Communications

B. FOIA Training

3. The FOIA directs agency Chief FOIA Officers to ensure that FOIA training is offered to 

agency personnel. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(j)(2)(F). Please describe the efforts your agency 

has undertaken to ensure proper FOIA training is made available and used by agency 

personnel.

ANSWER: The NASA Principal Agency FOIA Officer receives training information from 

ASAP and OIP and distributes that information to the staff so they may attend. The Principal 

Agency FOIA officer also monitors Court Opinions for all FOIA litigation and provides 

these Court opinions to staff to further their awareness of court decisions. When necessary, 

the Principal Agency FOIA Officer also holds meetings to discuss with staff new procedures 

developed following Court precedence. 

4. Did your FOIA professionals or the personnel at your agency who have FOIA 

responsibilities attend substantive FOIA training during the reporting period such as that 

provided by the Department of Justice?

ANSWER: Yes. 
5. If yes, please provide a brief description of the type of training attended or conducted and the 

topics covered.

ANSWER: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the training classes for which NASA FOIA staff 

registered were all virtual training offered by ASAP and DOJ. In addition, the Principal Agency 

FOIA Officer held quarterly TEAMS meetings with NASA’s FOIA professionals to discuss any 

new guidance that may have been issued by DOJ, any recent case law or remands of 

administrative appeal decisions affecting the handling of NASA’s FOIA cases, and ways to 

improve NASA’s FOIA processes to comply with these factors. 

6. Please provide an estimate of the percentage of your FOIA professionals and staff with FOIA 

responsibilities who attended substantive FOIA training during this reporting period.

ANSWER: 80% of NASA’s FOIA staff attended virtual FOIA training during this reporting 

period. The other 20% attended the quarterly meetings held by the Principal Agency FOIA 

Officer referenced in the previous response.

7. OIP has directed agencies to “take steps to ensure that all of their FOIA professionals attend 

substantive FOIA training at least once throughout the year.” If your response to the previous 

question is that less than 80% of your FOIA professionals attended training, please explain 

your agency’s plan to ensure that all FOIA professionals receive or attend substantive FOIA 

training during the next reporting year.

ANSWER: Most of the agency’s FOIA professionals have attended outside training, and/or at 

least one DOJ training. The NASA Principal Agency FOIA Officer also held internal training on 

Adobe Pro redaction features which uses text recognition and other technology to ensure

consistent redactions and reduces the likelihood that redaction errors.

8. Did the personnel at your agency who have FOIA responsibilities attend training in 

federal records management during this reporting period?

ANSWER: No. 

C. Outreach

9. Did your FOIA professionals engage in any outreach or dialogue outside of the standard 

request process, with the requester community or open government groups regarding your 

administration of the FOIA? Please describe any such outreach or dialogue, and, if applicable, 

any specific examples of how this dialogue has led to improvements in your agency’s FOIA 

administration.

ANSWER: The NASA FOIA group always reaches out to requesters to discuss any aspect of 

the FOIA request that is either voluminous or unclear and/or discuss the FOIA process to better 

serve the requester. While the FOIA unit did not have any outreach outside of these standard 

processes, NASA has a strong and robust Communications Office with Public Affairs Officers 

embedded in all NASA programs to answer all inquiries received from the media related to 

NASA programs/missions. NASA also has a Public Inquiry unit that answers thousands of 
inquiries from the public via mail, email, or phone calls. The customer service that NASA’s 

Office of Communications provides to the public in response to any inquiry is an essential part of 

the agency’s open government activities. These services are key activities that help reduce the 

number of FOIA requests NASA receives.

D. Other Initiatives

10. Describe any efforts your agency has undertaken to inform non-FOIA professionals of their 

obligations under the FOIA. In particular, please describe: 

• how often and in what formats your agency provides FOIA training or briefings to nonFOIA staff.

• if senior leaders at your agency received a briefing on your agency’s FOIA resources, 

obligations, and expectations during the FOIA process?

ANSWER: The Office of General Counsel makes a presentation about FOIA at the agency’s 

New Employee Orientation Training sessions. Additionally, on an annual basis, the Principal 

Agency FOIA Officer provides training sessions for NASA Program Offices. In 2021, the 

Principal Agency FOIA Officer provided five training sessions for program offices at NASA

Headquarters and centers. Additionally, with the change of administration that took place in 

2021, the Principal Agency FOIA Officer provided senior leaders, including NASA’s new 

Administrator, Deputy Administrator, and other new officials, with FOIA training and 

information regarding their duties and responsibilities under the FOIA.

11. Optional -- If there are any other initiatives undertaken by your agency to ensure that the 

presumption of openness is being applied, please describe them here.

ANSWER: AINS (FOIAXpress) provided a two-day virtual training session for FOIAXpress 

users. This training included a session presented by Richard Huff, former co-director of the 

Office of Information Policy, addressing recent significant FOIA case. This session was very 

informative for the NASA FOIA staff. 

Additionally, as explained in the past, the National Aeronautics and Space Act mandates that

NASA disseminate to the public as much information as possible concerning its missions and 

scientific findings. In this regard, the agency has a robust Office of Communications with a 

policy that governs the release of information to the public, which is defined as information in 

any form provided to news and information media outlets, especially information that has the 

potential to generate significant media, public interest, or other inquiries. Examples include, but 

are not limited to, press releases, media advisories, news features, Facebook, Twitter, or other 

web postings, and responses to public inquiries. All of these efforts ensure the presumption of 

openness regarding NASA’s activities and missions. 

Section II: Steps Taken to Ensure that Your Agency Has an Effective System in Place for 

Responding to Requests
DOJ’s FOIA Guidelines emphasize that “[a]pplication of the proper disclosure standard is only 

one part of ensuring transparency. Open government requires not just a presumption of 

disclosure, but also an effective system for responding to FOIA requests.” It is essential that 

agencies effectively manage their FOIA program.

Please answer the following questions to describe the steps your agency has taken to ensure that 

the management of your FOIA program is effective and efficient. You should also include any 

additional information that describes your agency's efforts in this area.

1. For the Fiscal Year 2021, what was the average number of days your agency reported for 

adjudicating requests for expedited processing? Please see Section VIII.A. of your agency's 

Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Report.

ANSWER: 5.7 .

2. If your agency's average number of days to adjudicate requests for expedited processing was 

above ten calendar days, according to Section VIII.A. of your agency's Fiscal Year 2021 Annual 

FOIA Report, please describe the steps your agency will take to ensure that requests for 

expedited processing are adjudicated within ten calendar days or less.

ANSWER: N/A

3. The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 required all agencies to update their FOIA regulations 

within 180 days. In 2016, OIP issued Guidance for Agency FOIA Regulations and the 

accompanying Template for Agency FOIA Regulations to assist agencies in updating their 

regulations in accordance with the statute. Has your agency updated its FOIA regulations in 

accordance with the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016? If not, what is your agency's plan to 

update your regulations?

ANSWER: Yes, NASA updated its regulations in 2019.

4. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) generally document your agency’s internal processes 

for administering the FOIA beyond your FOIA regulations and FOIA Reference Guide. As noted 

in OIP’s guidance, having SOPs can improve the consistency and quality of an agency’s FOIA 

process. SOPs can also serve as a significant resource for incoming FOIA professionals and a 

way to preserve much of the agency’s institutional knowledge on administering the FOIA from 

how to handle requests from start-to-finish, to identifying and making proactive disclosures, to 

maintaining a FOIA website. Does your agency have up-to-date internal SOPs for your FOIA 

administration?

ANSWER: No. NASA has a small FOIA unit with seven full-time and two part-time 

employees. NASA FOIA specialists follow the agency’s FOIA regulations to process records.

The Principal Agency FOIA Officer generally guides internal processes and monitors 

consistency and quality of the agency’s FOIA processes. For example, NASA created template

letters for FOIA specialists to use which has improved the quality of letters that are sent to FOIA 

requesters. 
5. If not, please provide a timeline for when your agency plans to develop or update its SOPs.

ANSWER: NASA may consider developing a short SOP during this Fiscal Year and post it on 

its website.

6. Has your agency established alternative means of access to first-party requested records 

outside of the FOIA process?

ANSWER: NO. 

7. If yes, please provide examples. If no, please explain if such opportunities exist at your agency 

and whether there are any challenges in establishing alternative means of access.

ANSWER: NASA receives some first-party requests. Most requests seek information related to 

accidents, personnel matters, or investigations by protective services. Since the requests are not 

pure Privacy Act requests and NASA processes these types of requests under both Privacy Act 

and FOIA, we have not established alternative means of access to these types of records outside 

of the FOIA process.

8. Did your agency conduct a self-assessment of its FOIA administration during the reporting 

period? If so, please describe the self-assessment methods used, such as analyzing Annual 

Report or raw data, using active workflows and track management, reviewing and updating 

processing procedures, etc. In addition, please specifically highlight any data analysis methods or 

technologies used to assess your agency's FOIA program. 

ANSWER: On a weekly basis the Principle Agency FOIA Officer conducts assessments of 

NASA’s pending cases and provides a report to the agency’s Chief FOIA Officer and other 

management officials. When a request is reported on several weekly reports, the Principle 

Agency FOIA Officer takes steps to locate bottlenecks and assist with moving those cases 

forward in a more timely fashion. In April 2021, NASA’s FOIA Analyst for Headquarters (HQ) 

left the agency for another job, and it took seven months to backfill that position. The HQ FOIA 

office receives the highest number of FOIA requests in the agency, so this seven-month vacancy 

increased the number of NASA’s backlogged FOIA requests for 2021. To help mitigate this 

issue, the Principle Agency FOIA Officer distributed cases from the HQ FOIA Office to FOIA 

specialists that processed other NASA centers’ requests until the HQ position was filled. 

However, since filling the position, the Principal Agency FOIA Officer has kept the distribution 

of FOIA requests to others in an effort to lessen the burden on the HQ FOIA specialist and allow 

a more equitable workload distribution. 

9. The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 requires additional notification to requesters about the 

services provided by the agency’s FOIA Public Liaison. Please provide an estimate of the 

number of times requesters sought assistance from your agency’s FOIA Public Liaison during 

FY 2021 (please provide a total number or an estimate of the number).
ANSWER: NASA’s Chief FOIA Public Liason received 14 requests for assistance and/or 

disputes from requesters regarding their FOIA requests. All 14 requests/disputes were resolved 

without further issues being raised to the agency’s administrative appeal unit at NASA’s OGC or 

OGIS. 

10. Has your agency reviewed its FOIA-related staffing capabilities to identify resources needed 

to respond to current and anticipated FOIA demands? 

ANSWER: NASA has gone through a significant organizational transformation and as of 

January 2021, the agency consolidated its FOIA business processes into one unit with the 

Principal Agency FOIA Officer in charge of monitoring FOIA compliance for all NASA centers. 

In the past, each NASA Center had its own FOIA officer reporting to the Center’s officials. As a 

result of this organizational transformation, all full-time FOIA Analysts processing records for 

NASA’s Centers now report to the Principal Agency FOIA Officer. This simplifies the oversight 

of business processes. In addition, and as a result of a vacancy in the HQ FOIA specialist 

position in April 2021, the Principal Agency FOIA Officer re-distributed to FOIA Analysts for 

other Centers any pending and incoming requests for HQ records. While the center FOIA 

Analysts continue to primarily process the center records, this organizational transformation

allows the Principal Agency FOIA Officer to monitor staff workload and re-distribute work 

accordingly. At this point, NASA does not believe it needs additional resources. This may 

change depending on future demands. 

11. Optional -- Please describe:

• Best practices used to ensure that your FOIA system operates efficiently and effectively

ANSWER: The Principle Agency FOIA officer frequently reviews and meets with FOIA

Analysts about their FOIA cases and discusses strategies to improve the FOIA program, reduce 

the FOIA backlog, and speed up the processing of requests. This sometimes requires additional 

discussions with FOIA requesters to explain the challenges faced by FOIA Analysts in 

processing a backlogged request. Sometimes requesters agree to narrow the scope of their 

request based on these conversations. 

• Any challenges your agency faces in this area

ANSWER: One of the biggest challenges NASA faces is that the nature of its work is 

inherently collaborative with other agencies, state/local governments, and companies. Thus, 

records responsive to NASA FOIA requests frequently include those requiring extensive 

consultations with numerous other stakeholders. These FOIA requests are extremely timeconsuming and pose a great challenge to NASA, especially when voluminous records are 

involved.

Section III: Steps Taken to Increase Proactive Disclosures

The Department of Justice has long focused on the need for agencies to work proactively to post 

information online without waiting for individual requests to be received.
Please answer the following questions to describe the steps your agency has taken to increase the 

amount of material that is available on your agency websites. In addition to the questions below, 

you should also describe any additional steps taken by your agency to make and improve 

proactive disclosures of information.

1. Please describe what steps your agency takes to identify, track, and post (a)(2) proactive 

disclosures.

ANSWER: NASA has one of the most robust uses of social media to disseminate information of 

interest to the public. As explained in Section D, Question 11 above, NASA’s Office of 

Communications routinely releases information to the public, especially information that has the 

potential to generate significant media, public interest, or other inquiry. Our program offices 

regularly post documents related to mission updates, launches, etc., and this information is 

further publicized through tweets, program-sponsored events, interviews, etc. The Public 

Inquiries Office, which receives thousands of requests for information from the members of the 

public, also regularly revises its website to provide direct links to material of interest to the 

public. 

2. Provide examples of any material that your agency has proactively disclosed during the past 

reporting year, including records that have been requested and released three or more times in 

accordance with 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(2)(D). Please include links to these materials as well.

ANSWER: The agency proactively posts the SmartPay Card Holder’s list and FOIA logs for 

each Fiscal Year. 

The list for SmartPay Card Holders can be accessed on the NASA Shared Services Center 

(NSSC) FOIA reading room at foia_cardholder_list_dec_2021.pdf (nasa.gov). 

The FOIA Logs can be accessed on the agency’s HQ FOIA reading room at:

https://www.nasa.gov/FOIA/elibrary

NASA’s Presidential transition Binder can be also accessed at the following link:

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nasa_2020_presidential_transition_binder508_compliant_version.pdf

3. Does your agency disseminate common types of material outside of FOIA, including in online 

databases where the public may access them? If yes, please provide examples and, if applicable, 

statutory authority.

ANSWER: Yes, one of the databases the public uses is NASA’s Technical Reports Servers

(NTRS). NTRS is managed by NASA’s Scientific and Technical Information unit (STI). This 

database provides access to NASA metadata records, full-text online documents, images, and 

videos. The types of information included in this database are conference papers, journal articles, 

meeting papers, patents, research reports, images, movies, and technical videos – scientific and 

technical information (STI) created or funded by NASA. 
A few additional examples of data available online for the public without the need to submit a 

FOIA request to NASA are:

NASA Space Act Agreements Community of Practice - NASA has the ability to enter into 

special agreements, called Space Act Agreements, to further the aims of the agency.

NASA History Office, Headquarters - Includes many electronic books.

NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) - full-text reports, audits, memoranda, testimony, etc.

Management and Policy Documents - Collected scans of policies, reports, and other documents 

important to NASA operations.

NASA Online Directives Information System (NODIS) - provides a full-text of NASA Policy 

Directives (NPDs) and NASA Procedural Directives (NPRs) by date and by name. 

NASA Image Library – Consolidates imagery and videos in one searchable location. Users can 

download content in multiple sizes and resolutions and see the metadata associated with images, 

including EXIF/camera data on many images.

4. Beyond posting new material, is your agency taking steps to make the posted information

more useful to the public, especially to the community of individuals who regularly access your 

agency’s website?

ANSWER: Yes, the scientific community, media requesters, and others continually use 

NASA’s websites to view new events and published information. As explained in Section D, 

Question 11, NASA has a statutory mandate to post as much information concerning its missions 

and scientific findings as possible. For this reason, NASA provides a vast amount of data on its 

websites for all types of groups (scientific, media, researchers, students, vendors, etc.) which is 

continually updated.

5. If yes, please provide examples of such improvements. In particular, please describe steps 

your agency is taking to post information in open, machine-readable, and machine-actionable 

formats, to the extent feasible. If not posting in open formats, please explain why and note any 

challenges.

ANSWER: All of NASA’s Mission Directorates continually update their public websites with 

new information. NASA is a leader among federal agencies in providing open data to citizens 

and has a robust infrastructure for internet-facing open data management. NASA has cataloged a 

comprehensive data inventory, available at data.nasa.gov, that allows search and access to over 

30k datasets, and the list continues to grow as the Agency implements the Evidence-Based 

Policymaking Act under the purview of the NASA Data Governance Council. In an effort to 

make NASA data as interoperable as possible, NASA established api.nasa.gov which provides 

machine-readable access to data. NASA’s events can be viewed at www.NASA.gov by clicking 

on any topics of interest or by clicking on NASA Audiences (Media, Educators, Students) to 

view the most updated event/information available to the public. While the examples are far too 

many to provide in this response, one that can be listed is the Science Mission Directorate. This 
division posts its latest science news, podcasts, grant award announcements, publications, and 

final reports on research results for the public and/or researchers at science.nasa.gov.

6. Does your proactive disclosure process or system involve any collaboration with agency staff 

outside the FOIA office? If so, describe this interaction.

ANSWER: Yes, please see the response to question 5 above.

Optional -- Please describe:

• Best practices used to improve proactive disclosures

ANSWER: See the response in question one (1) under this section.

• Any challenges your agency faces in this area

ANSWER: N/A

Section IV: Steps Taken to Greater Utilize Technology

A key component of FOIA administration is using technology to make information more 

accessible. In addition to using the internet to make proactive disclosures, agencies should also 

be exploring ways to utilize technology in responding to requests. 

Please answer the following questions to describe how your agency is utilizing technology to 

improve its FOIA administration and the public's access to information. You should also include 

any additional information that describes your agency's efforts in this area.

1. Has your agency reviewed its FOIA-related technological capabilities to identify resources 

needed to respond to current and anticipated FOIA demands?

ANSWER: Yes. NASA uses FOIAXpress to track its FOIA workflow. We also use SharePoint 

to store our FOIA request files which allow all relevant personnel to collaborate on records 

received and processed in response to FOIA requests. In addition, NASA uses its Office of 

Information Technology to conduct FOIA searches of employee and Capstone official email 

accounts. This has greatly helped to streamline the administration of our FOIA program.

2. Please briefly describe any new types of technology your agency began using during the 

reporting period to support your FOIA program. 

ANSWER: In October 2021, NASA purchased a second license for EverMap AutoPortfolio

which is a plug-in for Adobe Acrobat that enables de-duplication of PDF documents. This

additional license will help us to de-duplicate voluminous records when the need arises.

3. OIP issued guidance in 2017 encouraging agencies to regularly review their FOIA websites to 

ensure that they contain essential resources, and are informative and user-friendly. Has your 
agency reviewed its FOIA website(s) during the reporting period to ensure it addresses the 

elements noted in the guidance?

ANSWER: Yes. NASA updated its website, fixed any broken links, and also added updated 

information to its FOIA guidance webpage during this year. 

4. Did all four of your agency's quarterly reports for the Fiscal Year 2021 appear on your 

agency's website and on FOIA.gov?

ANSWER: Yes

5. If your agency did not successfully post all quarterly reports, with information appearing on 

FOIA.gov, please explain why and provide your agency’s plan for ensuring that such reporting is 

successful in the Fiscal Year 2022

ANSWER: N/A

6. The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 requires all agencies to post the raw statistical data used 

to compile their Annual FOIA Reports. Please provide the link to this posting for your agency’s 

Fiscal Year 2020 Annual FOIA Report and, if available, for your agency’s Fiscal Year 2021 

Annual FOIA Report.

ANSWER: Both FY 2020 and 2021 Annual Reports are available at the following link:

https://www.nasa.gov/FOIA/annual-reports.html

7. Optional -- Please describe:

• Best practices used in greater utilizing technology

ANSWER: N/A

• Any challenges your agency faces in this area

ANSWER: One challenge NASA faces is de-duplicating voluminous records and emails. We 

purchased two licenses for EverMap AutoPortfolio, a plug-in for Adobe Acrobat that deduplicates voluminous emails and pdf’s. While NASA obtained one additional license in 2021, 

we also continue to evaluate whether a more robust e-discovery or document management tool is 

necessary. 

Section V: Steps Taken to Improve Timeliness in Responding to Requests and Reducing 

Backlogs

The Department of Justice has emphasized the importance of improving timeliness in responding 

to requests. This section of your Chief FOIA Officer Report addresses both time limits and 

backlog reduction. Backlog reduction is measured both in terms of numbers of backlogged 
requests or appeals and by looking at whether agencies closed their ten oldest requests, appeals, 

and consultations.

For the figures required in this Section, please use the numbers contained in the specified 

sections of your agency’s FY2020 and 2021 Annual FOIA Reports.

A. Simple Track

Section VII.A of your agency’s Annual FOIA Report, entitled "FOIA Requests – Response Time 

for All Processed Requests," includes figures that show your agency's average response times for 

processed requests. For agencies utilizing a multi-track system to process requests, there is a 

category for "simple" requests, which are those requests that are placed in the agency’s fastest 

(non-expedited) track, based on the low volume and/or simplicity of the records requested.

1. Does your agency utilize a separate track for simple requests?

ANSWER: Yes. NASA utilizes a multi-track system and has a separate track for simple 

requests.

2. If your agency uses a separate track for simple requests, according to Annual FOIA Report 

section VII.A, was the agency's overall average number of days to process simple requests 

twenty working days or fewer in Fiscal Year 2021?

ANSWER: Yes.

3. Please provide the percentage of requests processed by your agency in Fiscal Year 2021 that 

were placed in your simple track. Please use the following calculation based on the data from 

your Annual FOIA Report: (processed simple requests from Section VII.C.1) divided by 

(requests processed from Section V.A.) x 100.

ANSWER: 39.87%

4. If your agency does not track simple requests separately, was the average number of days to 

process all non-expedited requests twenty working days or fewer?

ANSWER: N/A

B. Backlogs

When answering these questions, please refer to your Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Report, 

Sections XII.D-E, which compares the numbers of requests and appeals received, processed, and 

backlogged between Fiscal Years 2020 and2021.

BACKLOGGED REQUESTS
5. If your agency had a backlog of requests at the close of Fiscal Year 2021, according to Annual 

FOIA Report Section XII.D.2, did that backlog decrease as compared with the backlog reported 

at the end of Fiscal year 2020?

ANSWER: Yes. 

6. If not, according to Annual FOIA Report Section XII.D.1, did your agency process more 

requests during Fiscal Year 2021 than it did during Fiscal Year 2020?

ANSWER: N/A

7. If your agency’s request backlog increased during Fiscal Year 2021, please explain why and 

describe the causes that contributed to your agency not being able to reduce its backlog. When 

doing so, please also indicate if any of the following were contributing factors:

• An increase in the number of incoming requests.

• A loss of staff.

• An increase in the complexity of the requests received. If possible, please provide 

examples or briefly describe the types of complex requests contributing to your backlog 

increase.

• Any other reasons – please briefly describe or provide examples when possible.

ANSWER: N/A 

8. If you had a request backlog please report the percentage of requests that make up the backlog 

out of the total number of requests received by your agency in Fiscal Year 2021. Please use the 

following calculation based on data from your Annual FOIA Report: (backlogged requests from 

Section XII.A) divided by (requests received from Section V.A) x 100. This number can be 

greater than 100%. If your agency has no request backlog, please answer with “N/A.”

ANSWER: 3.69%

BACKLOGGED APPEALS

9. If your agency had a backlog of appeals at the close of Fiscal Year 2021, according to Section 

XII.E.2 of the Annual FOIA Report, did that backlog decrease as compared with the backlog 

reported at the end of Fiscal Year 2020?

ANSWER: No.

10. If not, according to section XII.E.1 of the Annual FOIA Report, did your agency process 

more appeals during Fiscal Year 2021 than it did during Fiscal Year 2020?

ANSWER: No.

11. If your agency’s appeal backlog increased during Fiscal Year 2021, please explain why and 
describe the causes that contributed to your agency not being able to reduce its backlog. When 

doing so, please also indicate if any of the following were contributing factors:

• An increase in the number of incoming appeals.

• A loss of staff.

• An increase in the complexity of the requests received. If possible, please provide 

examples or briefly describe the types of complex requests contributing to your backlog 

increase.

• Impact of COVID-19 and workplace and safety precautions.

• Any other reasons – please briefly describe or provide examples when possible.

ANSWER: NASA’s appeals are reviewed by attorney advisors who advise on FOIA and a 

variety of additional legal areas. COVID-19 and the multitude of legal questions related to 

COVID-19 created a significant demand on attorney resources. This demand, coupled with 

reduced attorney personnel during this time, caused a backlog of appeals this reporting year. 

12. If you had an appeal backlog please report the percentage of appeals that make up the 

backlog out of the total number of appeals received by your agency in Fiscal Year 2021. 

Please use the following calculation based on data from your Annual FOIA Report: 

(backlogged appeals from Section XII.A) divided by (appeals received from Section VI.A) 

x 100. This number can be greater than 100%. If your agency did not receive any appeals 

in Fiscal Year 2021 and/or has no appeal backlog, please answer with "N/A."

ANSWER: 61.54%

C. Backlog Reduction Plans

13. In the 2021 guidelines for Chief FOIA Officer Reports, any agency with a backlog of 

over 1000 requests in Fiscal Year 2020 was asked to provide a plan for achieving backlog 

reduction in the year ahead. Did your agency implement a backlog reduction plan last 

year? If so, describe your agency’s efforts in implementing this plan and note if your

agency was able to achieve backlog reduction in Fiscal Year 2021?

ANSWER: NASA did not implement a backlog reduction plan last year because its backlog in 

Fiscal Year 2020 was less than 1,000 requests.

14. If your agency had a backlog of more than 1,000 requests in Fiscal Year 2021, please explain 

your agency’s plan to reduce this backlog during Fiscal Year 2022. In particular, please also 

detail how your agency developed and plans to execute your backlog reduction plans.

ANSWER: N/A. NASA’s backlogged cases reported in the 2021 Annual Report are less than 

1,000. 

D. Status of Oldest Requests, Appeals, and Consultations

Section VII.E, entitled "Pending Requests – Ten Oldest Pending Requests," Section VI.C.(5), 
entitled "Ten Oldest Pending Administrative Appeals," and Section XII.C., entitled 

"Consultations on FOIA Requests – Ten Oldest Consultations Received from Other Agencies 

and Pending at Your Agency," show the ten oldest pending requests, appeals, and consultations. 

You should refer to these numbers from your Annual FOIA Reports for both Fiscal Year

2020 and Fiscal Year 2021 when completing this section of your Chief FOIA Officer Report.

OLDEST REQUESTS

15. In Fiscal Year 2021, did your agency close the ten oldest pending perfected requests that 

were reported in SectionVII.E. of your Fiscal Year 2020 Annual FOIA Report?

ANSWER: Yes. 

16. If no, please provide the number of these requests your agency was able to close by the 

end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section VII.E of your Fiscal Year 2020 Annual FOIA 

Report. If you had less than ten total oldest requests to

close, please indicate that.

ANSWER: N/A. NASA closed all 10 of its oldest pending FOIA requests that were reported in 

the Fiscal Year 2020 Annual FOIA Report.

17. Beyond work on the ten oldest requests, please describe any steps your agency took to reduce 

the overall age of your pending requests.

ANSWER: One way the Principle Agency FOIA Officer works to reduce the age of pending 

requests is to re-distribute pending cases from FOIA specialists experiencing heavy work 

volumes to other FOIA specialists with lesser caseloads. However, due to the loss of the HQ 

FOIA Analyst (the office that receives the highest number of requests), the receipt of several 

very complex FOIA requests with voluminous records, it was challenging to reduce the overall 

age of NASA’s pending requests. 

TEN OLDEST APPEALS

18. In Fiscal Year 2021, did your agency close the ten oldest appeals that were reported 

pending in Section VI.C.5 of your Fiscal Year 2020 Annual FOIA Report?

ANSWER: No.

19. If no, please provide the number of these appeals your agency was able to close by the 

end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section VI.C.(5) of your Fiscal Year 2020 Annual FOIA 

Report. If you had less than ten total oldest appeals to close, please indicate that.

ANSWER: NASA reported one oldest pending appeal in its Fiscal Year 2020 annual report. 

NASA did not close that appeal during Fiscal Year 2021.

20. Beyond work on the ten oldest appeals, please describe any steps your agency took to reduce 

the overall age of your pending appeals.
ANSWER: NASA received 12 FOIA Appeals in FY 2021, and NASA’s Office of Inspector 

General (OIG) received one (1) FOIA appeal. The OIG closed the one appeal it received in FY 

2021. However, for the reasons explained above in question 11, NASA closed 5 of the 12

appeals it received during the fiscal year, leaving 8 cases in the backlog at the end of FY 2021.

TEN OLDEST CONSULTATIONS

21. In Fiscal Year 2021, did your agency close the ten oldest consultations that were reported 

pending in Section XII.C. of your Fiscal Year 2020 Annual FOIA Report?

ANSWER: Yes. 

22. If no, please provide the number of these consultations your agency was able to close 

by the end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section XII.C. of your Fiscal Year 2020 Annual 

FOIA Report. If you had less than ten total oldest consultations to close, please indicate 

that.

ANSWER: N/A

E. Additional Information on Ten Oldest Requests, Appeals, and Consultations & Plans

23. Briefly explain any obstacles your agency faced in closing its ten oldest requests, appeals, 

and consultations from fiscal Year 2020.

ANSWER: NASA closed its 10 oldest requests from FY 2020. Obstacles related to appeals are 

addressed in question 11 above.

24. If your agency was unable to close any of its ten oldest requests because you were waiting 

to hear back from other agencies on consultations you sent, please provide the date the 

request was initially received by your agency, the date when your agency sent the 

consultation, and the date when you last contacted the agency where the consultation was

pending.

ANSWER: N/A.

25. If your agency did not close its ten oldest pending requests, appeals, or consultations, 

please provide a plan describing how your agency intends to close those “ten oldest” 

requests, appeals, and consultations during Fiscal Year 2022.

ANSWER: During Fiscal Year 2021 NASA closed all 10 of its oldest pending FOIA requests 

and consulstations reported on the Fiscal Year 2020 Annual Report. With respect to the pending 

appeal from Fiscal Year 2020 which was not closed in Fiscal Year 2021, as previously 

explained, NASA faced obstacles related to COVID-19 and limited attorney resources during 

this period. Though COVID-19 still presents a challenge, attorney resources have improved as a

result of an increased number of personnel and we anticipate a higher closure rate of FOIA 
appeals in Fiscal Year 2022, including the closure of the oldest pending appeal from Fiscal Year 

2020.

F. Success Stories

Out of all the activities undertaken by your agency since March 2021 to increase transparency 

and improve FOIA administration, please briefly describe here at least one success story that you 

would like to highlight as emblematic of your agency’s efforts. The success story can come from 

any one of the five key areas, but should not be something

that you have reported in a prior year. As noted above, these agency success stories will be 

highlighted during Sunshine Week by OIP. To facilitate this process, all agencies should use 

bullets to describe their success story and limit their text to a half page. The success story is 

designed to be a quick summary of key achievements. A complete description of all your efforts 

will be contained in the body of your Chief FOIA Officer Report.

ANSWER: Since NASA switched its email system to Office 365, email searches are now 

completed by NASA’s Office of Information and Technology (IT) rather than the individuals 

whose emails were requested. Having IT perform these searches ensures accuracy of the search 

results, uniformity of the records delivered, and reduces the time spent by the FOIA Office

training numerous individuals how best to complete and deliver the results of an email search. IT 

is also able to decrypt any emails that are encrypted so the FOIA unit no longer has to seek out 

the originators or recipients of encrypted emails to request decrypted copies. While requests for 

emails are still voluminous and pose a time-consuming review process, having IT perform these 

searches has greatly streamlined the process.