The Foreign Service Journal, September 2008

FOIA request backlog. A major effort in FY 2002 through 2004 (Operation Due Diligence) handled over 11,500 requests, reducing the backlog to 1,996 at the end of FY 2004. However, by FY 2006 it had risen to 3,799. And it rose further, to 4,085 in FY 2007, even though the depart- ment processed 4,792 requests during that year. During FY 2007, according to the department’s “Freedom of Informa- tion Act Annual Report; Fiscal Year 2007,” there were 437 total releases, 925 partial releases and 210 denials. Separately, hundreds of requests are resolved by informing the requester that there is no such information, transferring the request to the agency that has the records requested, or not- ing that the information is in the pub- lic domain (and telling the requester how to get it). To assist in public access, the department established a Web site (www.foia.state.gov) that received more than 133 million hits during FY 2006, according to the FY 2007 FOIA Annual Report. Ostensibly requesters are sup- posed to pay FOIA researchers for the time they spend assessing/evaluat- ing the requested material as well as fees for the material eventually provid- ed (15 cents per page). However, this requirement is more pro forma than real because requests deemed to be in the public interest (e.g., scholarly or journalistic) are free of charge. The fact that fees from public requests cover only 0.5 percent of total costs suggests that only a handful of requesters are unable to find a ratio- nale for getting material without cost. The FOIA Force Although a wide variety of civil ser- vants, Presidential Management Fel- lows and local university students have all engaged in FOIA/declassification work, the retired FSO hired while in When Actually Employed status remains the gold standard for FOIA reviewers. Because the requirements for familiarity with State Department material and procedures are unique, the work force concentrates on select- ing, retaining and, where and when possible, expanding a contingent of former FSOs. Prospective candidates for review- ers seek formal, written endorsement from individual geographic and sub- stantive bureaus in which they have labored at some point during their careers and are thus regarded as “well and favorably known.” These affi- davits accompany the application to become a FOIA reviewer as an indi- cation of experience and competence in a particular geographic or substan- tive area. The vast majority of this group live in the Washington area, but others come from considerable distances (e.g., Florida and Arizona). The opportunity to “keep your hand in” is unique — and, for many, the supple- ment to a federal annuity is the differ- ence between sufficiency and com- fort. Consequently, many of the FOIA reviewers are individuals who 60 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 8 Official Secrecy: A Short History The American classification system has its origins in the 18th century, when the First Continental Congress in 1774 bound its members to keep the proceedings secret “until the majority shall direct them to be made public.” More modern classification systems came into being just prior to World War II: Executive Order 8381, dated March 22, 1940, established a comprehensive classification system with differing levels that included work on the Manhattan Project. Following the war, the system split, with control of information about atomic weapons and other aspects of atomic energy shifting from the military to the civilian Atomic Energy Commission under the terms of the Atomic Energy Acts of 1946 and 1954. The management of all other types of sensitive information has been governed by a series of executive orders and associated amendments that form the basis of the National Security Information classification system, and, since 1967, by the Freedom of Information Act as well. The successive executive orders updating and amending the classification/declassifi- cation regime tend to oscillate between an emphasis on security, or restriction, and an emphasis on access, depending on recent events and the political party in office. E.O. 12958, signed by President Bill Clinton on April 16, 1995, established comprehensive changes in the classification system. That order adopted a more liberal policy toward declassification, in particular, except where atomic energy and nuclear weapons are con- cerned. For instance, the previous order, issued during the Reagan administration, had no provision for automatic declassification based on time elapsed from original classifica- tion. But E.O. 12958 established automatic declassification times for information desig- nated as having permanent historical value. Further, it restored the Carter administration requirement that the original classifier identify or describe what damage could occur if the information in question were released. Through its “Electronic Freedom of Information Act” amendments to the FOIA in 1996, the Clinton administration also brought FOIA into the electronic age. The mea- sures mandated establishment of electronic reading rooms for documents released since 1996 and documents of continuing public interest, as well as creation of formats for making FOIA requests electronically. While essentially maintaining the classification system established in E.O. 12958, the George W. Bush administration added a number of amendments, at least one of which, E.O. 13392, re-emphasized security, partly in light of concerns following the events of 9/11. Among other things, the order extended the period for automatic declassification and expanded provisions for classification or reclassification of materials already in the public domain. — Susan Maitra, Senior Editor