FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

ANNUAL REPORT

CALENDAR YEAR 1997

(Report Period: January 1 through September 30, 1997)

SUMMARY

During the report period, the first three quarters of Calendar Year 1997, a total of 91,261 public requests for records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) were completed by the Department of Defense. Bear in mind that the Electronic Freedom of Information Act (EFOIA) Amendments enacted in 1996 changed reporting to a fiscal year basis. Consequently, this report, from January 1 through September 30, 1997, represents only three-fourths of a normal reporting cycle. Next year's report will cover the period from October 1, 1997 through September 30, 1998. The illustration below compares to the number of requests processed during the report period (three quarters) against the previous twenty full (four quarter) calendar years.

The Department of Defense fully denied 1,729 and partially denied 7,655 out of 91,261 requests on the basis of FOIA exemptions. Of those exemptions, 9% were for classified information; 7% for internal rules and practices; 8% for statutory exemptions; 10% for proprietary data; 11% for deliberative material; 34% for privacy information; and 21% for law enforcement investigations. Thirty-three thousand four hundred sixteen requests could not be filled in whole or in part for other reasons, such as lack of records, referral to another agency, or lack of specificity sufficient to identify the requested records. There were 857 actions taken on appeals of denied requests (38 granted, 127 partially denied, 491 fully denied, and 299 not filled for other reasons, as mentioned earlier).

The total DoD operating cost associated with the processing of requests during this report period was $35,557,570.52. The average cost of processing a single case during this period was approximately $389.63. Fee collections for records provided to the public amounted to $729,905.69. In the illustration below, program costs for the report period (three quarters) is compared to costs incurred during the previous twenty (four quarter) calendar years.

Questions regarding this report should be addressed to the Director, Freedom of Information and Security Review, Room 2C757, 1155 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1155.