Opinion ID: 430594
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The FOIA Exception to the Privacy Act Disclosure Provisions

Text: 24 The appellees next argue that the letters were not disclosures covered by the Privacy Act because they only imparted information that the FAA would have been required to release pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The Privacy Act excepts from its coverage disclosure of [a] record that would be required under [the FOIA]. 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(2). The appellees state that the information disclosed in the Vincent letters clearly could not be withheld under Exemption 6 of the FOIA, which they contend is the only exemption relevant in this case. 16 25 First and foremost, the letters were not sent in response to a FOIA request. Nonetheless, appellees interpret section 552a(b)(2) to allow unrestricted disclosure unless the information falls within a FOIA exemption, whether or not the information has been requested. The only reported case squarely on point rejects this interpretation. See Zeller v. United States, 467 F.Supp. 487, 503 (E.D.N.Y.1979) (FOIA exception to Privacy Act does not apply because nothing in the FOIA appears to require such information to be released in the absence of a request therefor). The cases upon which appellees rely are not apposite since they all involved Privacy Act claims to prevent disclosure in the face of an actual FOIA request. See, e.g., Brown v. Federal Bureau of Investigation, 658 F.2d 71, 74 (2d Cir.1981); Providence Journal Company v. Federal Bureau of Investigation, 460 F.Supp. 762 (D.R.I.1978), rev'd on other grounds, 602 F.2d 1010 (1st Cir.1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1071, 100 S.Ct. 1015, 62 L.Ed.2d 752 (1980). In fact, one of them says 26 [t]he excepting of material required to be disclosed under FOIA from the operation of the Sec. 552a(b) permission requirement does not include discretionary decisions to disclose. 27 Providence Journal, 460 F.Supp. at 762; see also Plain Dealer Publishing Co. v. United States Department of Labor, 471 F.Supp. 1023, 1030 (D.D.C.1979) ([t]he net effect of [Sec. 552a(b)(2) ] is to permit disclosure where the FOIA requires it, but to prohibit disclosure where the FOIA allows the agency to refuse to disclose). 28 Although the language of section 552a(b)(2) standing alone may be subject to different interpretations, we think that, in light of the differing thrusts of the FOIA and the Privacy Act, it must be read generally to preclude nonconsensual disclosure of Privacy Act material unless the agency acts pursuant to a FOIA request. Our reasoning is quite simple. The FOIA was meant to limit agency discretion to deny public access to information in its files. GTE Sylvania, Inc. v. Consumers Union, 445 U.S. 375, 385, 100 S.Ct. 1194, 1201, 63 L.Ed.2d 467 (1980). The Privacy Act, on the other hand, was designed to limit agency discretion to reveal personal information in its files. See generally Preamble to Privacy Act, Pub.L. No. 93-579, Sec. 2(b), 88 Stat. 1896 (1974). Although there are undoubtedly areas of potential overlap and even conflict, see Greentree v. United States Customs Service, 674 F.2d 74, 78 (D.C.Cir.1982), certainly it is fair to say neither statute was passed to increase agency discretion as to what to disclose or hold back. It would be unreasonable to read the FOIA, as appellees do, as increasing agency discretion to disclose information where disclosure is otherwise prohibited by the Privacy Act. 17 Only when the agency is faced with a FOIA request for information that is not within a FOIA exemption, and therefore has no discretion but to disclose the information, does the FOIA exception to the Privacy Act come into play. 29 Although this reasoning by itself is persuasive, we note that it is also supported by the Office of Management and Budget Guidelines on the Privacy Act, which state: 30 Given the use of the term required, agencies may not voluntarily make public any record which they are not required to release (i.e. those that they are permitted to withhold) without the consent of the individual .... 31 Records which have traditionally been considered to be in the public domain and are required to be disclosed to the public, such as many final orders and opinions of quasi-judicial agencies, press releases, etc. may be released under this provision without waiting for a specific Freedom of Information Act request.... Records which the agency would elect to disclose (i.e., they are permitted to be withheld under the FOIA) may only be released to the public under the routine use provision. 32 OMB Guidelines, supra note 9, at 21-22, reprinted in Source Book, supra note 9, at 1035-36. The legislative history of the Privacy Act lends additional support to our interpretation. When Senate Bill 3418 was first introduced, section 202(c) read: [the disclosure provisions of the Bill] shall not apply when disclosure would be required or permitted pursuant to ... the Freedom of Information Act of 1966. S. 3418 as reported from the Committee on Government Operations, reprinted in Source Book, supra note 9, at 139 (emphasis supplied). Despite this language, the accompanying committee report clarified that: 33 The Committee does not intend agencies to use the Freedom of Information Act as an excuse to avoid their obligations under this section to obtain informed consent. 34 S.Rep. 93-1183, 93d Cong., 2d Sess. 71 (1974), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, p. 6985, reprinted in Source Book, supra note 9, at 224. Obviously, Congress was aware of the danger that too broad an FOIA exception could undercut the Privacy Act's protections. Unlike the Senate Bill, the House version contained no FOIA exception. See 120 Cong.Rec. 40406 (1974) (Analysis of House and Senate Compromise Amendments), reprinted in Source Book, supra note 9, at 861. Significantly for this case, the final compromise version of the Act contained an FOIA exception, but limited it to those disclosures required, and not to all those permitted, under the FOIA. 18 Id. 35 The OMB Guidelines suggest a possible exception to this interpretation for information that is traditionally released by an agency to the public without an FOIA request. We need not decide whether such an exception is proper, or if so what its exact scope may be. It is clear that the Vincent letters are not such traditional disseminations. We thus find no merit in the appellees' contentions that section 552a(b)(2) (the FOIA exception) permitted sending the letters. 36