FOIA establishes a legal right of access to government information on the basis of the principles of openness and accountability in government. Before its enactment in 1966, an individual seeking access to federal records faced the burden of establishing a “need to know” before being granted the right to examine a federal record. FOIA established a “right to know” standard, under which an organization or person could receive access to information held by a federal agency without demonstrating a need or reason. The “right to know” standard shifted the burden of proof from the individual to a government agency and required the agency to provide proper justification when denying a request for access to a record. Any “person,” defined broadly to include foreign nationals, corporations, and organizations, can file a FOIA request. For example, a foreign national or his/her lawyer can request immigration-related files, and a commercial requester, such as a data broker that files a request on behalf of another person, may request a copy of a government contract. In response, an agency is required to provide the relevant record(s) in any readily producible form or format specified by the requester (unless the record falls within a permitted exemption). The 1996 e-FOIA amendments, among other things, sought to strengthen the requirement that federal agencies respond to a request in a timely manner and reduce their backlogged requests. In this regard, the amendments made a number of procedural changes, including providing a requester with an opportunity to limit the scope of the request so that it can be processed more quickly, and requiring agencies to determine within 20 working days (an increase from the previously established time frame of 10 days) whether a request would be fulfilled.also authorized agencies to multi-track requests—that is, to process simple and complex requests concurrently on separate tracks to facilitate responding to a relatively simple request more quickly. In addition, the e- FOIA amendments encouraged online, public access to government information by requiring agencies to make specific types of records available in electronic form. In a later effort to reduce agencies’ backlogged FOIA requests, the President issued Executive Order 13392 in December 2005, which set forth a directive for citizen-centered and results-oriented FOIA. In particular, the order directed agencies to provide a requester with courteous and appropriate service and ways to learn about the FOIA process, the status of the request, and the public availability of other agency records. The order also instructed agencies to process requests efficiently, achieve measurable process improvements (including a reduction in the backlog of overdue requests), and reform programs that were not producing the appropriate results. Further, the order directed each agency to designate a senior official as the Chief FOIA Officer. This official is responsible for ensuring agency- wide compliance with the act by monitoring implementation throughout the agency; recommending changes in policies, practices, staffing, and funding; and reviewing and reporting on the agency’s performance in implementing FOIA to agency heads and to Justice. (These are referred to as Chief FOIA Officer reports.) Justice, which has overall responsibility for overseeing federal FOIA activities, issued guidance in April 2006 to assist federal agencies in implementing the Executive Order’s requirements for reviews and improvement plans. The guidance suggested several potential areas for agencies to consider when conducting a review, such as automated tracking of requests; automated processing and receipt of requests; electronic responses to requests; forms of communication with requesters; and systems for handling referrals to other agencies. The OPEN Government Act,FOIA in several ways. For example, it placed the 2005 Executive Order’s requirement for agencies to have Chief FOIA Officers in law. It also required agencies to include additional statistics on timeliness in their annual reports. In addition, the act called for agencies to establish a system to track the status of a request. Justice subsequently issued guidance on responding to the requirements of the act and directed agencies to omit from their FOIA statistics certain Privacy Act requests that had previously been included. which was enacted in 2007, also amended Additionally, in January 2009, the President issued two memoranda, “Transparency and Open Government” and “Freedom of Information Act,” both of which focused on increasing the amount of information made public by the government. In particular, the latter memorandum directed agencies to (1) adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure in all FOIA decisions, (2) take affirmative steps to make information public, and (3) use modern technology to do so. This echoed Congress’ finding, in passing the OPEN Government Act, that FOIA established a “strong presumption in favor of disclosure.” Agencies, including DHS, are generally required to make a determination on a FOIA request within 20 working days. A request may be received in writing or by electronic means. Once received, the request goes through multiple phases, which include assigning a tracking number, searching for responsive records, processing records, and releasing records. Figure 1 provides an overview of the process, from the receipt of a request through the release of records to the requester. As indicated, during the intake phase, a request is to be logged into the agency’s FOIA system, and a tracking number is assigned. The request is then reviewed by FOIA staff to determine its scope and level of complexity.requester acknowledging receipt of the request, with a unique tracking number that the requester can use to check the status of the request. The agency then typically sends a letter or e-mail to the Next, FOIA staff begin the search to retrieve the responsive records by routing the request to the appropriate program office(s).This step may include searching and reviewing paper and electronic records from multiple locations and program offices. Agency staff then process the responsive records, which includes determining whether a portion or all of any record should be withheld based on statutory exemptions. If a portion or all of any record is the responsibility of another agency, FOIA staff may consult with the other agency or may send (“refer”) the document(s) to that other agency for processing. After processing and redaction, a request is reviewed for errors and to ensure quality. The documents are then released to the requester, either electronically or by mail. Created in 2003, DHS assumed control of about 209,000 civilian and military positions from 22 agencies and offices that specialize in one or more aspects of homeland security. As such, the department is charged with a wide expanse of operations affecting many aspects of federal service to the public. By the nature of its mission and operations, the department creates and has responsibility for vast and varied amounts of information covering, for example, immigration, border crossings, law enforcement, natural disasters, maritime accidents, and agency management. According to the 2014 Chief FOIA Officer Report,structure consists of 28 offices, directorates, and components. The departmental offices encompass core management and policy functions. Among these is the Privacy Office, which is tasked with preserving and enhancing privacy protections for all individuals and promoting transparency of the department’s operations. The Privacy Office serves as the department’s central FOIA office. DHS also has seven operational components that are responsible for carrying out various missions. Among these components are the five selected for our study, as described here. USCIS grants immigration and citizenship benefits, promotes an awareness and understanding of citizenship, and ensures the integrity of the nation’s immigration system. Its records include asylum application files and other immigration-related documents. CBP secures the border against transnational threats and facilitates trade and travel through actions that include enforcing federal laws and regulations relating to immigration, drug enforcement, and other matters. The agency maintains records related to agency operations, activities, and interactions. ICE promotes homeland security and public safety through the criminal and civil enforcement of federal laws governing border control, customs, trade, and immigration. It maintains information related to the law enforcement records of immigrants and detainees, as well as information pertaining to human trafficking/smuggling, gangs, and arrest reports. FEMA supports citizens and first responders to ensure that they work together to build, sustain, and improve the capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards. The agency maintains records such as those pertaining to the National Flood Insurance Program, grants, and disaster relief, as well as records related to disaster response. Coast Guard leads federal agency maritime safety, security, and stewardship. It safeguards the flow of maritime commerce in and out of U.S. ports, protects the marine environment, defends U.S. borders against illicit activity, and rescues those in peril at sea. Its records include information related to Coast Guard veterans, maritime disasters, and oil spills such as Deepwater Horizon. According to its 2014 Chief FOIA Officer Report, DHS and its component agencies reported that they processed 204,332 FOIA requests in fiscal year 2013, the most of any federal government agency. The department has experienced an increase in requests received every year since 2009, and has also reported the largest backlog of unprocessed requests of any federal agency. Specifically, as shown in table 1, DHS experienced a 125 percent increase in FOIA requests received from fiscal year 2009 through fiscal year 2013. It experienced an 81 percent increase in backlogged requests from fiscal year 2012 to fiscal year 2013. At the end of fiscal year 2013, approximately half of all reported backlogged federal FOIA requests (about 50,000 of 95,000) belonged to DHS. Since 2008, we have issued a number of reports that highlighted challenges impacting DHS’s processing of FOIA requests. For example, in that year, we reported that, government-wide, the numbers of pending requests carried over from year to year had increased because of an increase in requests directed at DHS. In particular, we noted increases in the number of pending requests at USCIS, which accounted for about 89 percent of DHS’s total pending requests.