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B-281390 1 (1998-11-24)

handle is hein.gao/gaobablxb0001 and id is 1 raw text is: G AO United States General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548 Office of the General Counsel B-281390 November 24, 1998 The Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. Chairman, Committee on Science House of Representatives Dear Mr. Chairman: This is in response to your letter dated April 10, 1998, written jointly with the Honorable George E. Brown, Jr., requesting our opinion on several questions pertaining to the National Academy of Sciences (Academy). You asked (1) whether the Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments of 1997 are applicable to the subgroups of the Academy (National Research Council, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine), (2) whether the Freedom of Information Act is applicable to the Academy, its subgroups or their advisory panels, and (3) whether there are statutory or contractual barriers to the release of underlying data by the Academy and its subgroups to federal agencies, Congress, or the public. Your letter also requested information on the committee processes at the Academy, which are addressed separately.1 For the reasons stated below, we find that (1) the 1997 amendments do apply to the subgroups of the Academy and thus federal agencies may not use the advice or recommendations of the Academy and its subgroups unless the requirements added by the 1997 amendments are met, (2) the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) does not apply to the Academy, its subgroups or their advisory panels, and (3) other than criminal statutes that prohibit the disclosure of national security type information, federal laws generally do not directly bar private entities like the Academy from releasing data; however, contractual provisions with government agencies, private entities or individuals could preclude the Academy's release of the data, and section 15(b) added by the 1997 amendments could also limit the Academy's ability to release documents if their release would disclose matters exempt under FOIA. In preparing this opinion, we formally solicited the views of the Academy about these questions, and James R. Wright, General Counsel of the Academy, provided his legal opinion in a letter which is enclosed for your information. The Academy generally agrees with our answers to these questions. 1See Federal Research: The National Academy of Sciences and the Federal Advisory Committee Act (GAO/RCED-99-17, Nov. 13, 1998).

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