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3 FOIA Update 1 (1981-1982)

handle is hein.journals/foiaupd3 and id is 1 raw text is: FOIA Update, Vol. III, No. 1 December 1981 U.S. Department of Justice Office of Information Law and Policy FUPDATE Legislative FOJA Reform Proposed Efforts to amend the Freedom of Information Act continue on Capitol Hill. Major highlights of the efforts to mend the FOIA have been the pres- entation of the Administration's prop- osal (see pp. 3-8 of FOIA Update) by Assistant Attorney General Jonathan C. Rose of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy, and subsequent hearings on this proposal (S. 1751/H.R. 4805) and on a similar proposal, S. 1730, Senator Orrin G. Hatch's FOIA reform bill. Senator Hatch is chairman of the Subcommit- tee on the Constitution of the Judi- ciary Committee. The Hatch subcommittee has held six hearings on the need for FOIA reform. In presenting the Administration's proposal on Oct. 15, Assistant Attor- ney General Rose declared that the Administration stands fully commit- ted to carrying out the philosophy and spirit of the Act. Rose told the Hatch subcommittee that the Administration is concerned that in some instances the Freedom of Information Act has been used in ways that are inconsistent with the original objectives of the Congress. These include efforts for disclosures which have interfered unduly with proper law enforcement activities and national security functions, Rose said. He also pointed to the considera- ble expense involved in FOIA process- ing and the diversion of agency resources from program responsibili- ties. The Office of Legal Policy began its comprehensive review of the need for FOIA reform in May of this year by asking federal agencies to comment on problems encountered in administer- Cont'd next page On Agency Practice Recordkeeping Procedures Examined With few exceptions, records in the physical possession of a federal agency are subject to the Freedom of Informa- tion Act. Agencies do not, however, have to retain indefinitely all records which are created by or submitted to them. Under the Federal Records Act, 44 U.S.C. §3102 and §3103, agencies are required to establish records manage- ment programs which identify records that should be preserved and to plan for the storage and disposal of records having only temporary significance. It is estimated that only about five percent of government records, because of their administrative, legal, research or other value, become part of the permanent national collection. For a variety of reasons, many more records are retained for longer periods of time than are required. In addition, some materials can be returned to submitters in the private sector, because of the circumstances under which they were obtained, once there is no longer a need for them. Agencies should be aware that once a Freedom of Information Act request has been received, the requested records assume a special status and ordinarily must be retained until the requester's access rights are determined. Federal records, generally speaking, fall into two categories: administrative materials which are standard through- out the entire government and for which there is a schedule for retention and disposition furnished by the National Archives and Records Ser- vice (NARS), and other materials which are related to the kinds of pro- grams conducted by the individual agencies. Individual schedules for ret- ention and final disposition of records are developed by agency personnel in consultation with the Archivist of the United States. The Justice Effort At the Justice Department, there is a full scale effort underway to help man- agers and clerical workers focus on files maintenance and records disposi- tion practices. Under the guidance of Bernie Berglind of the Justice Man- agement Division's Records and Pub- lications Staff, a course in files maintenance and records disposition will be given five times in 1982, begin- ning with a class Jan. 5-6. In the course, Berglind points out that almost every move made in government generates paperwork. Some of this material-for example, reading files, informational copies and acknowledgements- need not be kept. Cont'd page 11 Update

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