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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD)
26 DAYS TO RESPOND TO ARCHIVE; OUTSTANDING REQUESTS AS
OLD AS 15 YEARS
BELATED REFERRALS OF REQUESTS ACCOUNT FOR SOME DELAY
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Recordkeeping Issues - DOD provided its response
both electronically, as an attachment to an e-mail, and with
a hard copy of the records by U.S. mail. |
Ten Oldest - DOD responded approximately 26 business
days after the request was made; it reported ten FOIA requests
ranging from January 31, 1987 to February 3, 1992. The requests
concern the activities of National Security Council personnel
relating to Vietnam, Laos, China or the USSR in the 1980s,
a news media request for Presidential Review Memoranda, several
research requests from a graduate student for records regarding
the Freedom of Navigation program, a request regarding anti-drug
U.S. aid packages granted to Mexico since mid-1990, and records
regarding the DOD's reaction to Iraq's efforts to purchase
high temperature furnaces in 1990. Among the oldest requests
provided by DOD, were ones that had been referred by the National
Security Council (NSC) to DOD several years after being initially
received by the NSC. From the perspective of the FOIA requester,
these requests have been pending for as long as 15 years,
although a portion of the delay is not the responsibility
of DOD. The request for Presidential Review Memoranda is one
of the requests referred by the NSC to DOD. Although DOD views
this as an open request and it potentially represents a tasking
to DOD personnel, the requester already has obtained these
records from a request to the Carter Presidential Library.
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Workload Statistics - Although DOD's reported statistics
from 1998 through 2002 indicate that the agency has received
a decreasing number of FOIA requests (down 29% from 107,627
in 1998 to 76,579 in 2002), the number processed each year
also has decreased (down 27.6% from 106,191 processed in 1998
to 76,943 processed in 2002). DOD's processing rate per year
-- a comparison of the number of requests processed to the
number received -- increased from 98.67% in 1998 to 100.48%
in 2002. |
Backlog Statistics - DOD's backlog of pending FOIA
requests has increased (from 10,240 FOIA requests pending
at the end of 1998 to 12,543 FOIA requests pending at the
end of 2002). DOD's backlog as a percentage of FOIA requests
processed each year has increased from 9.64% in 1998 to 16.30%
in 2002. Its backlog rate per year -- a comparison of the
number of requests pending at the end of the year to the number
received during that year -- has increased from 9.51% in 1998
to 16.38% in 2002. |
Processing Time - Under its two track system, DOD
reports a median processing time in 2002 for simple requests
of 20, while complex requests are reported to have a median
processing time of 58 days in 2002. Expedited requests have
a median processing time range of 1-7 days over the 1998-2002
time period. The median days that backlogged requests have
been pending is reported as 87 for 2002. |
TEN
OLDEST REQUESTS
DOD
Response Letter
DOD January
31, 1987 Letter
DOD March 3,
1988 Letter
DOD 1989 Letter
DOD March
13, 1989 (1) Letter
DOD March
13, 1989 (2) Letter
DOD March 23,
1989 Letter
DOD January
16, 1992 Letter
DOD February
3, 1992 Letter
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