Washington D.C., 19 April 2006 - A
federal court today granted
partial summary judgment to the National Security
Archive finding that the Air Force has violated the Freedom of
Information Act and has engaged in a pattern or practice of violating
the FOIA. In a suit
brought by the Archive in March 2005, seeking to compel responses
to 82 FOIA requests that had been pending between one and eighteen
years, the court ordered
the Air Force to provide the Archive with detailed information
regarding each requested record and its FOIA processing, resolve
each request with immediacy of attention and result, notify all
agencies to which it has referred requests that it is operating
under court order, and appear in court to discuss how to achieve
results.
David P. Dean, of the law firm James & Hoffman, P.C., who
represents the Archive, commented: "The Court made clear
that the Air Force had better fix its broken system soon, and
that the judge is watching closely." The size and complexity
of a request does not excuse an agency's FOIA obligations. By
specifically expressing concern over the Air Force's new compliance
program, by ordering "immediacy of attention and result,"
and by commanding the appearance before the Court of an Air Force
officer with sufficient rank "to achieve results," the
Court sent a clear message: the time for the Air Force to comply
with FOIA has finally arrived, and the Court is watching.
The Air Force's only defense to the Archive's claims had been
that, since the time that the Complaint was filed, it has been
trying to improve its processing. The Court commented, "Since
the Air Force only woke up in May 2005 to its need to fulfill
its FOIA obligations on a more timely basis, it has not had time
to demonstrate the success or failure" of its new efforts
and concluded "[i]t is too little, too late, to provide a
defense against Count I of the Complaint." Among its findings,
the court concluded that:
- one Air Force component - the 11th Communications Squadron
- "does not seem to understand the nature of its legal
obligations under FOIA"; and
- "[t]he record demonstrates that the Air Force has indeed
failed miserably to handle Archive FOIA requests in a timely
manner."
The Archive's General Counsel, Meredith Fuchs, noted "It
is unfortunate we had to bring a lawsuit to enforce basic compliance
with the Freedom of Information Act. We hope this will make the
FOIA work better for all members of the public and look forward
to working with the Air Force to help improve its system."