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CHIEF FOIA OFFICER REPORT

High-Volume Agencies

2024

(Reporting period - March 2023 to March 2024)

Stacey George, Esq.

Chief FOIA Officer

Section 1: FOIA Leadership and Applying the Presumption of Openness

The guiding principle underlying the Attorney General’s 2022 FOIA Guidelines is the presumption of 

openness. The Guidelines also highlight the importance of agency leadership in ensuring effective FOIA 

administration. Please answer the following questions about FOIA leadership at your agency and 

describe the steps your agency has taken to ensure that the presumption of openness is being applied to all 

decisions involving the FOIA.

A. Leadership Support for FOIA

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. The FOIA program is the responsibility of our Office of the General Counsel 

(“OGC”). I, FMSHRC’s Chief FOIA Officer, am an Assistant General Counsel in OGC, and I 

administer the FOIA program under the authority of the General Counsel Michael McCord.

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

Answer: Stacey George, Attorney-Advisor or Assistant General Counsel, Office of the General 

Counsel.

3. What steps has your agency taken to incorporate FOIA into its core mission? For example, has your 

agency incorporated FOIA milestones into its strategic plan? 

Answer: While FOIA has been and continues to be a priority for the Commission, the program 

has not been incorporated into the Agency’s strategic plan. We have made it standard 

operating procedure to provide FOIA training for all incoming employees.

B. Presumption of Openness

4. The Attorney General’s 2022 FOIA Guidelines provides that “agencies should confirm in response 

letters to FOIA requesters that they have considered the foreseeable harm standard when reviewing 

records and applying FOIA exemptions.” Does your agency provide such confirmation in its response 

letters? 

Answer: Depending on the complexity of the release or denial, we sometimes provide the 

foreseeable harm confirmation. However, we do not provide it in every single response as 

boilerplate language. 
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5. In some circumstances, agencies may respond to a requester that it can neither confirm nor deny the 

existence of requested records if acknowledging the existence of records would harm an interested 

protected by a FOIA exemption. This is commonly referred to as a Glomar response. With respect to 

these responses, please answer the below questions:

a. In addition to tracking the asserted exemption, does your agency specifically track whether a 

request involved a Glomar response?

Answer: Yes. We track Glomar responses. However, we did not issue any Glomar responses 

this year. 

b. If yes, please provide:

i. the number of times your agency issued a full or partial Glomar response (separate full 

and partial if possible);

Answer: We did not issue any Glomar responses this year.

ii. the number of times a Glomar response was issued by exemption (e.g., Exemption 

7(C) – 20 times, Exemption 1 – 5 times). 

Answer: Zero.

6. If your agency does not track the use of Glomar responses, are you planning to track this information in 

the future?

Answer: N/A

7. 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: Beyond proactively publishing records and making sure to apply the foreseeable harm 

analysis, there are no others to speak of at this time.

Section II: Ensuring Fair and Effective FOIA Administration

The Attorney General’s 2022 FOIA Guidelines provide that “[e]nsuring fair and effective FOIA 

administration requires . . . proper training, and a full understanding of FOIA obligations by the entire 

agency workforce.” The Guidelines reinforce longstanding guidance to “work with FOIA requesters in a 

spirit of cooperation.” The Attorney General also “urge[s] agency Chief FOIA Officers to undertake 

comprehensive review of all aspects of their agency’s FOIA administration” as part of ensuring fair and 

effective FOIA administration. 

A. FOIA Training

1. 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.
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Answer: We provide FOIA training to all FMSHRC staff, including all new hires and Senior 

Leaders within their first 60 days at the Commission. We held new hire FOIA training 

throughout FY 2023. The training consists of the agency’s FOIA responsibilities, how the 

FOIA works, the FOIA scenarios the particular employees are likely to encounter in their 

departments, and the role they will play in ensuring that the FOIA is properly carried out. 

Additionally, this year we required all agency personnel to complete the e-Learning modules 

provided by the Office of Information Policy (“OIP”). The modules were a huge success 

amongst our staff.

2. 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. 

3. If yes, please provide a brief description of the type of training attended or conducted and the topics 

covered.

Answer: In addition to completing the e-Learning modules provided by OIP, FOIA Personnel 

attended the virtual Exemptions 4 and 5 training held on Wednesday January 18, 2023, which 

covered the requirements for protecting trade secrets, certain commercial and financial 

information, the submitter-notice process for exemption determinations, and incorporating 

civil discovery privileges into the FOIA. We also attended the virtual Privacy Considerations 

Training held on Wednesday January 25, 2023, which discussed Exemptions 6 and 7c and the 

FOIA/Privacy Act interface and how the Privacy Act impacts our FOIA responsibilities.

4. 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: 100% of our personnel took the OIP e-modules training this year, whereas 66% of our 

personnel attended OIP virtual training. 

5. 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: We had one of three of our FOIA officials unable to attend training this year. Our 

FOIA Public Liaison (“FPL”) did not attend, partly because nearly all, if not all, of the 

trainings target FOIA personnel who process requests. Our FPL does not process requests so 

none of the trainings really seemed right for his particular responsibilities. When a course was 

selected during the year for the FPL, registration was full so he was unable to register. Moving

forward, each of our FOIA professionals will work towards attending at least one virtual or inperson core training session offered by OIP during each reporting period. We will try our best 

to search OIP’s website for opportunities and register for the necessary courses as early as 

possible.
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6. 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 non-FOIA staff; and if senior leaders at your agency received a briefing on your 

agency’s FOIA resources, obligations and expectations during the FOIA process?

Answer: We provide FOIA training to all new FMSHRC staff, including senior leaders such as 

our Administrative Law Judges, Commissioners, and upper management, within their first 60 

days at the Commission. In addition to recently introducing our agency to OIP’s e-learning 

modules, historically we have conducted agency-wide refresher training every few years for all

staff. The trainings also give agency employees an opportunity to meet our entire FOIA staff,

so they know who to contact with questions. These trainings are sometimes in person and 

sometimes virtual. 

B. Outreach

7. As part of the standard request process, do your FOIA professionals proactively contact requesters 

concerning complex or voluminous requests in an effort to clarify or narrow the scope of the request so 

requesters can receive responses more quickly? Please describe any such outreach or dialogue and, if 

applicable, any specific examples.

Answer: Yes. Whenever we have a particularly voluminous or confusing requests, we routinely 

reach out to the requesters to narrow and/or refine the scope of their requests. Requesters 

generally welcome this as it helps to decrease their processing time and on occasion their 

processing fees. Sometimes we reach out through email communications and other times we 

call them directly. Whenever we speak with them over the phone, we always send a follow-up 

email describing the telephone discussion and asking the requester to confirm the FOIA 

Office’s understanding of their amended request.

8. Outside of the standard request process or routine FOIA Liaison or FOIA Requester Service Center 

interactions, did your FOIA professionals engage in any outreach or dialogue, with the requester 

community or open government groups regarding your administration of the FOIA? For example, did 

you proactively contact frequent requesters, host FOIA-related conference calls with open government 

groups, or provide FOIA training to members of the public? 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: No.

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 Fiscal Year 2023 (please 

provide a total number or an estimate of the number for the agency overall).

Answer: Assistance from our FOIA Public Liaison was sought one time during FY 2023.
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C. Other Initiatives

10. Has your agency evaluated the allocation of agency personnel resources needed to respond to current 

and anticipated FOIA demands? If so, please describe what changes your agency has or will implement.

Answer: No. While we had previously discussed enlisting an employee from our Office of the 

Executive Director to assist with some administrative needs of the FOIA office, we had some 

personnel changes in our upper management in 2022. Unfortunately, this initiative is not a 

priority for the agency right now.

11. How does your agency use data or processing metrics to ensure efficient management of your FOIA 

workload? For example, case management reports, staff processing statistics, etc. In addition, please 

specifically highlight any data analysis methods or technologies used.

Answer: Our current number of FOIA personnel is able to adequately manage our workload 

and ensure efficient management by utilizing our FOIA log. Our agency’s small size coupled 

with our yearly number of FOIA requests averaging less than 100 alleviates the need for more 

sophisticated data metrics systems.

12. Optional -- If there are any other initiatives undertaken by your agency to ensure fair and effective 

FOIA administration, please describe them here.

Answer: N/A

Section III: Proactive Disclosures

The Attorney General’s 2022 FOIA Guidelines emphasize that “proactive disclosure of information is . . . 

fundamental to the faithful application of the FOIA.” The Guidelines direct agencies to post “records 

online quickly and systematically in advance of any public request” and reiterate that agencies should 

post records “in the most useful, searchable, and open formats possible.”

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

Answer: We routinely publish all final opinions and orders rendered in the adjudication of 

cases on our website. Once an adjudicatory opinion/order is issued, our docketing department 

forwards it to our website director for publication. When we receive a request for records not 

usually requested, we automatically consider whether it is appropriate for proactive disclosure. 

If we determine that it is, our FOIA Public Liaison has it published in our e-FOIA Library in 

the relevant proactive disclosure category (https://www.fmshrc.gov/content/foia-library). We 

also preemptively identify records that we believe may be of significant public interest. If we 

deem it suitable for proactive disclosure, we have it published in our e-FOIA Library. Finally, 

we rely heavily on our FOIA log to track and subsequently publish records that have been 

requested three or more times or even records requested only twice but may be of public 

interest.

2. How long after identifying a record for proactive disclosure does it take your agency to post it?

Answer: Typically, less than a week.
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3. Does your agency post logs of its FOIA requests? 

Answer: Yes.

a. If so, what information is contained in the logs? 

Answer: Our log includes received date, disposal date, information requested, disposition, 

exemption/description/information withheld, tracking number, and FOIA Portal tracking 

number (if applicable).

b. Are they posted in CSV format? If not, what format are they posted in?

Answer: No. They are posted in human readable format, specifically HTML.

4. 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: Under records we believe may be of public interest, we posted our “Return to 

Workplace Agency Plans,” and a letter from two agency Commissioners to the Senate 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions regarding a controversial, internal agency 

dispute. Under records released three or more times, we posted a 2010 Congressional 

Correspondence Log and a letter from our former Chair to a sitting U.S. Senator regarding the 

same controversial, internal agency dispute mentioned above. We also posted our 2023 EEO 

Policy Statement. These postings can be found at https://www.fmshrc.gov/content/foia-library.

5. 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. 

6. 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: After our latest website re-design, the FMSHRC site is more user-friendly. It is easier 

to navigate as the material is clearly laid out and organized into simpler categories. All 

documents are accessible in plain text and PDF format. The site now contains enhanced 

search capabilities for FMSHRC decisions. In addition, the site contains a PDF version of 

each volume of the agency’s official reporter publishing all substantive agency decisions and 

orders. In the FOIA Library, we clearly delineate the categories of proactive disclosures so that 

the requester community understands why the record has been proactively disclosed.

One challenge we face as an agency is that we are a micro-agency (less than 70 employees) 

with a very limited budget. Unfortunately, this budget has just been cut for the upcoming year. 

This further limits resources that were already limited to begin with. We have also been told 

that our capabilities are narrow within our contract with our website developer and/or the 
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developer’s capabilities are limited, and thus are unable to carry out certain functions on our 

website. 

In spite of our inadequate resources, we recognize that there is still room for improvement. 

Therefore, we intend to take steps this year to (hopefully) increase the number of formats in 

which we publish information in the FOIA section of the Commission’s website. We will start 

with our website director, who will find out what options are currently available to us from our 

website developer. In the meantime, we will continue to do our best to keep the website updated 

and running smoothly.

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

the FOIA office, such as IT or data personnel? If so, describe this interaction. 

Answer: Yes. Currently, when we identify any record that we believe may be suitable for 

proactive disclosure, we usually discuss it with the custodian of the record, which could be in 

any of the various agency departments. During this discussion, we ask that the keeper of the 

record identify any sensitive aspect of the record that we are unfamiliar with and why they 

believe the information to be sensitive. We then have to work with our website director to 

ensure proper placement and publication of our proactive disclosures.

8. Optional -- Please describe the best practices used to improve proactive disclosures and any challenges 

your agency faces in this area. 

Answer: One best practice we employ is that in addition to the FOIA team actively looking for 

records suitable for proactive disclosure, we have asked department heads to identify records 

they believe may be of sufficient interest to the public. Another best practice is that we clearly 

identify the category of proactive disclosure a record falls within when we publish the record.

The primary challenge we face in this area is that we already routinely proactively disclose the 

documents that are appropriate for this initiative, and we rarely have documents requested 

more than twice. Therefore, unless a major action has been taken in a case of significant 

interest to the public, we seldom have new documents suitable for proactive disclosure. It 

makes carrying out this initiative difficult. 

Section IV: Steps Taken to Greater Utilize Technology

A key component of FOIA administration is using technology to make information available to the public 

and to gain efficiency in FOIA processing. The Attorney General’s 2022 FOIA Guidelines emphasize the 

importance of making FOIA websites easily navigable and complying with the FOIA.gov interoperability 

requirements. Please answer the following questions to describe how your agency is using technology to 

improve its FOIA administration and the public's access to information.

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

respond to current and anticipated FOIA demands?

Answer: Yes.

2. Please briefly describe any new types of technology your agency uses to support your FOIA program. 
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Answer: There were no new technologies introduced to our FOIA program this year. 

3. Does your agency currently use any technology to automate record processing? For example, does 

your agency use machine learning, predictive coding, technology assisted review or similar tools to 

conduct searches or make redactions? If so, please describe and, if possible, estimate how much time and 

financial resources are saved since implementing the technology.

Answer: Yes. As stated above, we were recently introduced to Office 365 Security & 

Compliance Center eDiscovery, which is a more reliable and comprehensive means to search 

for specific agency records. This system is vast and very complex, so it will take some time to 

become proficient in using it. As for the time, it does not appear to save much time for the 

FOIA team right now. We have only two processing officers, working on FOIA part-time, and 

we use the system infrequently. Thus, there is a constant need to refamiliarize ourselves when 

we use it, which takes more time than we would like. It does, however, provide the FOIA team 

with direct access to certain agency records rather than having to go through IT or individual 

employees to gain access. It is also extremely useful when searching for records that were 

under the control of former employees or employees on leave. The financial resources saved, if 

any, is unclear at this time. 

4. 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. Our FOIA homepage is in compliance with the key information and resources 

requirements discussed in the 2017 Guidance. We also make updates to the site as needed 

throughout the year.

5. Did all four of your agency's quarterly reports for Fiscal Year 2023 appear on FOIA.gov?

Answer: Yes.

6. If your agency did not successfully post all quarterly reports on FOIA.gov, please explain why and 

provide your agency’s plan for ensuring that such reporting is successful in Fiscal Year 2024. 

Answer: N/A. 

7. 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 

2022 Annual FOIA Report and, if available, for your agency’s Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report. 

Answer: The link for the FY 2022 report is https://www.fmshrc.gov/content/2022-annual-foiareport. The link for the FY 2023 report is https://www.fmshrc.gov/content/2023-annual-foiareport. 

8. In February 2019, DOJ and OMB issued joint Guidance establishing interoperability standards to 

receive requests from the National FOIA Portal on FOIA.gov. Are all components of your agency in 

compliance with the guidance? 
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Answer: Yes. Currently, the Commission accepts FOIA requests via a formal, structured email 

to a designated e-mail inbox. We also maintain an account on FOIA.gov where we update 

information about the Commission’s FOIA administration, including our FOIA contact 

information. We also maintain a customized FOIA request form on our website tailored to our 

own FOIA regulations.

9. Optional -- Please describe the best practices used in greater utilizing technology and any challenges 

your agency faces in this area. 

Answer: We rely heavily on email as our primary mode of communication. This makes 

receiving and responding to requests quicker and more efficient. We also went completely 

paperless in March of 2020, which we believe has resulted in greater efficiency with our 

program. The main challenge faced by our agency is our lack of access to more sophisticated 

technology, which is largely due to our small size and commensurate budget. While a more 

sophisticated system may be more helpful sometime in the near future, our current, basic 

methods adequately address our needs for now.

Section V: Steps Taken to Remove Barriers to Access, Improve Timeliness 

in Responding to Requests, and Reduce Backlogs

The Attorney General’s 2022 FOIA Guidelines instruct agencies “to remove barriers to requesting and 

accessing government records and to reduce FOIA processing backlogs.” Please answer the following 

questions to describe how your agency is removing barriers to access, improving timeliness in responding 

to requests, and reducing FOIA backlogs. 

A. Remove Barriers to Access

1. Has your agency established alternative means of access to first-party requested records, outside of the 

typical FOIA or Privacy Act process?

Answer: Outside of requesters having the ability to submit Privacy Act requests, we have not 

established any alternative means of access.

2. If yes, please provide examples. If no, please indicate why not. Please also indicate if you do not know.

Answer: We have not experienced any problems with first-party requesters obtaining records, 

so we saw no need to seek an alternative means of access. Additionally, we receive limited firstparty requests.

3. Please describe any other steps your agency has taken to remove barriers to accessing government 

information.

Answer: None to speak of at this time.

B. Timeliness
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4. For Fiscal Year 2023, 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 2023 Annual 

FOIA Report.

Answer: N/A.

5. 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 2023 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.

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

Answer: Yes.

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

VII.A, was the agency overall average number of days to process simple requests twenty working days or 

fewer in Fiscal Year 2023?

Answer: Yes.

8. If not, did the simple track average processing time decrease compared to the previous Fiscal Year?

Answer: N/A.

9. Please provide the percentage of requests processed by your agency in Fiscal Year 2023 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: 81.48%.

10. 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.

C. Backlogs

BACKLOGGED REQUESTS

11. If your agency had a backlog of requests at the close of Fiscal Year 2023, 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 2022? 

Answer: No.
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12. If not, according to Annual FOIA Report Section XII.D.1, did your agency process more requests 

during Fiscal Year 2023 than it did during Fiscal Year 2022?

Answer: Yes.

13. If your agency’s request backlog increased during Fiscal Year 2023, 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)

• Litigation

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

Answer: Our agency usually does not have a backlog. However, in the last quarter of FY 2023, 

including in the last month, we received a substantial number of complex requests from the 

same requester, which made it virtually impossible to process the requests by the close of FY 

2023.

14. 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 2023. 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: 4.7%.

BACKLOGGED APPEALS

15. If your agency had a backlog of appeals at the close of Fiscal Year 2023, 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 2022? 

Answer: N/A.

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

during Fiscal Year 2023 than it did during Fiscal Year 2022? 

Answer: N/A.

17. If your agency’s appeal backlog increased during Fiscal Year 2023, 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
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• 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)

• Litigation

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

Answer: N/A.

18. 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 2023. 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 2023 and/or has no appeal backlog, please answer with 

"N/A."

Answer: N/A.

D. Backlog Reduction Plans

19. In the 2023 guidelines for Chief FOIA Officer Reports, any agency with a backlog of over 1000 

requests in Fiscal Year 2022 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 2023? 

Answer: N/A.

20. If your agency had a backlog of more than 1,000 requests in Fiscal Year 2023, please explain your 

agency’s plan to reduce this backlog during Fiscal Year 2024. 

Answer: N/A.

E. Reducing the Age of Requests, Appeals, and Consultations

TEN OLDEST REQUESTS

21. In Fiscal Year 2023, did your agency close the ten oldest pending perfected requests that were 

reported in Section VII.E. of your Fiscal Year 2022 Annual FOIA Report?

Answer: No.

22. 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 2022 Annual FOIA Report. If you had less than 

ten total oldest requests to close, please indicate that. 

Answer: Of the two oldest requests backlogged, we closed one during FY 2023. 

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

overall age of your pending requests. 
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Answer: With only a part-time FOIA staff who have other duties, we try to prioritize processing 

the oldest requests as best we can.

TEN OLDEST APPEALS

24. In Fiscal Year 2023, did your agency close the ten oldest appeals that were reported pending in 

Section VI.C.5 of your Fiscal Year 2022 Annual FOIA Report?

Answer: N/A.

25. 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 VII.C.(5) of your Fiscal Year 2022 Annual FOIA Report. If you had less 

than ten total oldest appeals to close, please indicate that. 

Answer: N/A.

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

overall age of your pending appeals.

Answer: N/A.

TEN OLDEST CONSULTATIONS

27. In Fiscal Year 2023, did your agency close the ten oldest consultations that were reported pending in 

Section XII.C. of your Fiscal Year 2022 Annual FOIA Report?

Answer: N/A.

28. 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 2022 Annual FOIA Report. If you had less 

than ten total oldest consultations to close, please indicate that. 

Answer: N/A.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING TEN OLDEST

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

why and provide a plan describing how your agency intends to close those “ten oldest” requests, appeals, 

and consultations during Fiscal Year 2024. 

Answer: N/A.

F. Additional Information about FOIA Processing

30. Were any requests at your agency the subject of FOIA litigation during the reporting period? If so, 

please describe the impact on your agency’s overall FOIA request processing and backlog. If possible, 

please indicate:
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• The number and nature of requests subject to litigation

• Common causes leading to litigation

• Any other information to illustrate the impact of litigation on your overall FOIA administration

Answer: No.