Microsoft Word - DOS 2023 Chief FOIA Officer Report

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

CHIEF FOIA OFFICER REPORT

MARCH 2023

Summary

The Department of State (the “Department”) is responsible for formulating

and executing the foreign policy of the United States and maintains records

dealing with U.S. foreign relations as well as those relating to the programs

and activities that support this mission. The Department’s mission is global

in nature as are the records that document that mission. As such, the

Department maintains its records at dozens of locations domestically and at

hundreds of posts located around the globe.

The Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests received by the

Department are often a mixture of complex subject matters regarding

foreign government relations, diplomacy, terrorism, armed conflicts, and

security; they can require multiple searches throughout many of the

Department’s approximately 270 domestic offices and overseas posts. In

many of these cases, searches locate voluminous amounts of paper and

electronic records, often containing highly classified or otherwise sensitive

information that must be reviewed by subject matter experts within the

Department as well as other U.S. Government agencies or foreign

governments before any information can be released to the requester.

These reviews are required to determine whether the release of the

information could harm U.S. national security, damage relations with foreign

governments, or reveal other sensitive information.

The Department makes every effort to respond to FOIA requests within the

statutory response period. To implement its statutory responsibilities under

the FOIA, the Department has established a centralized and comprehensive

FOIA program, in which a single office, the Office of Information Programs

and Services (“A/GIS/IPS”), receives and coordinates the processing of the

majority of the FOIA requests made to the Department. Only two other

offices, the Law Enforcement Liaison Division within the Directorate of

Passport Services and the Office of Inspector General, are authorized to

accept FOIA requests submitted to the Department.

During this reporting period (March 2022 to March 2023), the Department

continued its efforts to build its future FOIA program to decrease the FOIA

backlog and keep up with incoming requests.

In 2022, the Department’s FOIA program underwent significant transitions

involving staffing changes, new training efforts, updated workflows,

considerations of new technology, and a relocation of case processing

operations to Charleston, SC. Until early 2022, out of a paramount concern

for the safety of its employees, the Department remained in a maximum

telework posture and limited on-site presence to mission critical functions

only. This posture severely limited the number of FOIA staff that were

available to work on-site to process information stored on secured

networks. However, on February 28, 2022, the Department expanded its

onsite presence from “mission critical only” to “mission critical plus onsite-

dependent job functions.” As a result of this change in posture, the

Department’s FOIA employees returned to their on-site office locations,

which allowed them to resume processing of cases containing information

located on the classified network. On April 25, 2022, the Department

transitioned to an “All Functions” hybrid work and telework posture,

meaning that, depending on their mission and function, all Department

employees could work onsite as well as remotely.

In 2022, the Department made progress hiring key FOIA leadership

positions. Two division chief positions were filled: the Requester Liaison

Division Chief, who serves as the Department’s FOIA Public Liaison and

oversees the Requester Service Center and functions related to the receipt

and initial processing of FOIA requests; and the Statutory Compliance and

Research Division Chief, who oversees FOIA case processing. Two branch

chiefs were also filled: the Requester Communication Branch Chief, who

directly oversees receipt and initial processing of incoming FOIA requests,

and the Litigation and Appeals Branch Chief, who oversees FOIA litigation

and appeal cases. This new leadership team worked together to implement

changes to the FOIA program throughout the year.

The Department also began several new training initiatives during the year.

The Department recognized the need for more FOIA training for its full-time

FOIA professionals and implemented a FOIA Bootcamp starting in February

2022. This training serves as a primer for Department FOIA employees. It

included an overview of the FOIA, the history and structure of the FOIA,

FOIA exemptions and exclusions, practice exercises, and a list of resources

to further employees’ professional growth and development. Sessions were

presented by multiple subject matter experts from inside the FOIA Office

and from another U.S. Government agency. The program was also adapted

and used to brief staff in other Department bureaus and offices, for whom

FOIA is not a full-time responsibility. The FOIA Office’s FOIA professionals

also received weekly instruction by a FOIA subject matter expert on the FOIA

statute, exemptions, new developments in case law, and practical exercises

involving the review and redaction of documents. Finally, the Department

partnered with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to pilot an exchange

program where a Department FOIA employee went to the FBI for 4 weeks

and an FBI FOIA employee came to the Department so that each could learn

about the other’s FOIA operations. The pilot was a success, resulting in new

perspectives for the participants in the exchange and the overall programs,

both of which received feedback on how to improve their FOIA operations.

The program will be repeated in March 2023.

In 2022, as part of the effort to reduce the FOIA backlog and reduce FOIA

case processing time, the Department made several changes to its case

processing workflows. For example, beginning in June, the Requester

Communications Branch, which receives incoming FOIA requests, assumed

responsibility for sending out initial search taskings to those Department

components reasonably likely to have responsive records, thereby reducing

the time from receipt of a FOIA request to the initiation of search from

weeks to days.

The Department continued to use technology to communicate with

requesters and support its FOIA professionals working remotely. The

Department continued the “release to one, release to all” approach to

posting documents to its FOIA Virtual Reading Room. In FY 2022, the

Department posted over 6,200 records online to the Virtual Reading Room

that were released to requesters.

In March 2022, the Department announced that it was moving the majority

of its FOIA case processing operations from Washington, DC to Charleston,

SC, beginning in the summer of 2022 with all affected personnel to be in

Charleston by the end of 2024. This decision was based on available space

at the Department and estimated savings of millions of dollars in operating

costs over the next several years by moving the program outside of the

Washington, DC, area.

The Department’s FOIA litigation demands continued to be considerable, yet

the Department ended the year with fewer litigation cases than it had at the

start of FY 2022. The Department was named as a defendant in 56 new

FOIA litigation cases in FY 2022, up slightly from the 54 new cases involving

the Department in FY 2021 and significantly down from the 84 new cases

involving the Department in FY 2020. The Department ended FY 2022 with

approximately 197 total FOIA litigation cases involving 369 unique FOIA

requests, continuing its streak of significant FOIA litigation demands for

another year.

In sum, the Department’s FOIA program continues its efforts to improve its

ability to process FOIA requests and remains committed to improving the

timeliness of its responses to the public, using technology to process

requests, and posting documents released under the FOIA to the public FOIA

website. The Department also continues to use its online presence to

promote transparency and provide information to the public. This year’s

report is being written in Calibri 15-point font, which is 508 compliant and

consistent with the Department’s transition to a more accessible font for

individuals with disabilities who use Optical Character Recognition

technology and screen readers, in support of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and

Accessibility (DEIA). Feedback is welcome and can be provided at

https://foia.state.gov/Contact/Feedback.aspx.

Name and Title of your Agency’s Chief FOIA Officer

Alaina B. Teplitz

Assistant Secretary of Administration

Bureau of Administration

U.S. Department of State

SECTION I: STEPS TAKEN TO APPLY THE PRESUMPTION OF OPENNESS

The guiding principle underlying DOJ’s FOIA Guidelines is the presumption of

openness. The guidelines also highlight the importance of agency leadership

in ensuring effective FOIA administration. Please answer the following

questions about FOIA leadership at your agency and describe the steps your

agency has taken to ensure that the presumption of openness is being

applied to all decisions involving the FOIA.

A. Leadership Support for FOIA

1. The FOIA requires each agency to designate a Chief FOIA Officer who

is a senior official at least at the Assistant Secretary or equivalent

level. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(j)(1) (2018). Is your agency’s Chief FOIA

Officer at or above this level?

Yes.

2. Please provide the name and title of your agency’s Chief FOIA Office.

Alaina B. Teplitz

Assistant Secretary of Administration

Bureau of Administration

U.S. Department of State

3. What steps has your agency taken to incorporate FOIA into its core

mission? For example, has your agency incorporated FOIA milestones

into its strategic plan?

One of the primary goals of Bureau of Administration is to manage the

Department’s information as a strategic asset to improve knowledge

management, data-driven decision making, and transparency by

adapting to evolving customer needs through the use of new

technology and modernized ways of conducting business. To achieve

this goal, the Department is exploring the use of new technology, such

as machine learning and artificial intelligence, to provide more timely

responses to FOIA and other information requests.

Each year, all agency personnel with access to the Department’s

unclassified network are required to take mandatory records

management training, which includes a module on the FOIA. Failure

to take and pass this training results in a denial of access to the

network. The goal of the course is to train all personnel to identify

federal records, manage records, understand the records

management lifecycle, and recognize that FOIA is every employee’s

responsibility.

B. Presumption of Openness

4. The Attorney General’s 2022 FOIA Guidelines provides that “agencies

should confirm in response letters to FOIA requesters that they have

considered the foreseeable harm standard when reviewing records

and applying FOIA exemptions.” Does your agency provide such

confirmation in its response letters?

Yes, the Department provides language in its FOIA response letters

confirming that it has considered the foreseeable harm standard when

reviewing records and applying FOIA exemptions.

5. In some circumstances, agencies may respond to a requester that it

can neither confirm nor deny the existence of requested records if

acknowledging the existence of records would harm an interest

protected by a FOIA exemption. This is commonly referred to as a

Glomar response. With respect to these responses, please answer the

below questions:

a. In addition to tracking the asserted exemption, does your agency

specifically track whether a request involved a Glomar response?

No.

b. If yes, please provide:

i. the number of times your agency issued a full or partial

Glomar response (separate full and partial if possible);

ii. the number of times a Glomar response was issued by

exemption (e.g., Exemption 7(C) – 20 times, Exemption 1 –

5 times).

c. If your agency does not track the use of Glomar responses, what

would your agency need to do to track in the future? If possible,

please describe the resources and time involved.

The Department could track the use of Glomar responses in a

variety of ways including through enhancements to the technology

used for FOIA case processing or by adding notes to cases where

Glomar responses are used. Any approach would require the

dedication of additional resources, such as funding and employee

time.

6. Optional – If there are any other initiatives undertaken by your agency

to ensure that the presumption of openness is being applied, please

describe them here.

The Department continues its “release to one, release to all” policy of

monthly posting of released documents to its FOIA Virtual Reading

Room.

SECTION II: ENSURING FAIR AND EFFECTIVE FOIA ADMINISTRATION

The Attorney General’s FOIA Guidelines provide that “[e]nsuring fair and

effective FOIA administration requires . . . proper training, and a full

understanding of FOIA obligations by the entire agency workforce.” The

Guidelines reinforce longstanding guidance to “work with FOIA requesters in

a spirit of cooperation.” The Attorney General also “urge[s] agency Chief

FOIA Officers to undertake comprehensive review of all aspects of their

agency’s FOIA administration” as part of ensuring fair and effective FOIA

administration.

A. FOIA Training

1. The FOIA directs agency Chief FOIA Officers to ensure that FOIA

training is offered to agency personnel. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(j)(2)(F).

Please describe the efforts your agency has undertaken to ensure

proper FOIA training is made available and used by agency personnel.

The Department has mandatory records management training that all

users of the Department’s unclassified network must complete. This

online records training has a FOIA module that explains employee

responsibilities under the FOIA. In FY 2022, over 120,528 users of the

Department’s unclassified network completed training, a 16% increase

from FY 2021. Failure to complete this training results in loss of access

to the unclassified network. An updated version of this training will be

launched in 2023.

Additionally, the Department offered a variety of different training

sessions in the form of virtual and conference call briefings to

hundreds of Department employees processing FOIA cases.

Information Access training included sessions regarding the FOIA, the

Privacy Act, records management, National Security Information, and

the organizational structure of the Department.

The Department also implemented a FOIA Bootcamp starting in

February 2022. This training served as a primer for Department FOIA

employees and included an overview of the FOIA, the history and

structure of the FOIA, FOIA exemptions and exclusions, practice

exercises, and a list of resources to further employees’ professional

growth and development. Sessions were presented by multiple

subject matter experts from inside the FOIA Office and from another

U.S. Government agency. The program was also modified and used to

train staff in other Department bureaus and offices, for whom FOIA is

not a full-time responsibility.

2. Did your FOIA professionals or the personnel at your agency who have

FOIA responsibilities attend substantive FOIA training during the

reporting period such as that provided by the Department of Justice?

Yes

3. If yes, please provide a brief description of the type of training

attended or conducted and the topics covered.

The Department’s FOIA Program Manager, along with other FOIA

subject matter experts, conducted briefings for the FOIA Office

analysts and reviewers and other Department employees working on

the FOIA. These briefings contained reminders about annual training

requirements for classified and privacy information; updates on efforts

to implement records management mandates that may affect the

FOIA; a review of efforts to address existing FOIA processing issues; an

update on efforts to increase postings to the FOIA website, and

ongoing conversations about processing priorities, including expedited

requests. In FY 2022, over 120,528 Department employees also

completed a mandatory online records training that had a module

explaining employee responsibilities under the FOIA.

In addition to the FOIA Bootcamp described above, the Department’s

FOIA professionals also received weekly instruction by a FOIA subject

matter expert on the FOIA statute, exemptions, new developments in

case law, and practical exercises involving the review and redaction of

documents.

The Department continued its series of briefings to FOIA professionals

on the organizational structure of the Department, including the

mission of each bureau and office and overviews of the records they

create, an overview of working at embassies and consulates, and an

overview of interagency policy making. These briefings are meant to

ensure that the Department is conducting high-quality searches for

records sought through the FOIA and other records requests.

The FOIA Office leadership also continued to encourage and approve

funding for FOIA staff to attend briefings and trainings provided by the

American Society of Access Professionals (“ASAP”), the Department of

Justice’s (“DOJ”) Office of Information and Policy (“OIP”), and the

Office of Government and Information Services (“OGIS”) at the

National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”), Washington,

DC. The FOIA Office also held sessions for employees to share

information with their colleagues who could not attend about what

they learned at the events.

4. Please provide an estimate of the percentage of your FOIA

professionals and staff with FOIA responsibilities who attended

substantive FOIA training during this reporting period.

Over 90% of the Department’s FOIA professionals attended

substantive FOIA training during this reporting period.

5. OIP has directed agencies to “take steps to ensure that all of their

FOIA professionals attend substantive FOIA training at least once

throughout the year.” If your response to the previous question is

that less than 80% of your FOIA professionals attended training, please

explain your agency’s plan to ensure that all FOIA professionals

receive or attend substantive FOIA training during the next reporting

year.

N/A

6. Describe any efforts your agency has undertaken to inform non-FOIA

professionals of their obligations under the FOIA. In particular, please

describe how often and in what formats your agency provides FOIA

training or briefings to non-FOIA staff; and if senior leaders at your

agency received a briefing on your agency’s FOIA resources,

obligations and expectations during the FOIA process?

Yes. All agency personnel with access to the Department’s

unclassified network are required to take mandatory records

management training each calendar year. Failure to take and pass this

training results in a denial of access to the network. In FY 2022, over

120,528 Department personnel competed this training. The goal of

the course is to train all personnel to identify federal records, manage

records, and understand the records management lifecycle.

Additionally, the course has a module that introduces the FOIA and

explains employee responsibilities under the FOIA.

B. Outreach

7. Did your FOIA professionals engage in any outreach or dialogue,

outside of the standard request process, with the requester

community or open government groups regarding your administration

of the FOIA? Please describe any such outreach or dialogue, and if

applicable, any specific examples of how this dialogue has led to

improvements in your agency’s FOIA administration.

Yes. The Department’s FOIA Public Liaison (“FPL”) attended American

Society of Access Professionals (“ASAP”) events, which provide

opportunities to interact with the requester community.

The Deputy Assistant Secretary (“DAS”) for Global Information

Services (“A/GIS”) continued to serve as the co-chair of the

government-wide Chief FOIA Officer Technology Committee

(https://www.foia.gov/chief-foia-officers-

council/committee/technology-committee). In this role, the A/GIS

DAS participated in public Chief FOIA Officer meetings and the annual

ASAP conference, receiving feedback about FOIA from other members

of the FOIA community and public that was shared with the

Department’s FOIA program.

The Chief of the Statutory and Research Compliance Division chairs

the Chief FOIA Officer Council’s Committee on Cross-Agency

Collaboration and Innovation (COCACI)/Resources subcommittee,

which identifies opportunities for standardization of a variety of

resources that should be made available to FOIA offices to increase

efficiency and ease of use across government agencies, especially

smaller FOIA Requester Service Centers.

8. As part of the standard request process, do your FOIA professionals

proactively contact requesters concerning complex or voluminous

requests in an effort to clarify or narrow the scope of the request so

requesters can receive responses more quickly? Please describe any

such outreach or dialogue, and, if applicable, any specific examples.

Yes, the Department proactively contacts requesters to clarify the

scope of a request so that it can be perfected. The Department has

also established a process for identifying requests where the

responsive records will potentially be voluminous—for example,

requests that use expansive relational terms, such as those that seek

all records that “relate to” or “refer to” or “pertain to” or “concern” or

“regarding” a particular subject. Intake analysts will reach out to the

requester by email or phone to clarify and/or narrow the scope of the

request, including by discussing the specific language of the request.

9. The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 requires additional notification to

requesters about the services provided by the agency’s FOIA Public

Liaison. Please provide an estimate of the number of times requesters

sought assistance from your agency’s FOIA Public Liaison during Fiscal

Year 2022 (please provide a total number or an estimate of the

number).

945

C. Other Initiatives

10. Has your agency evaluated the allocation of agency personnel

resources needed to respond to current and anticipated FOIA

demands? If so, please describe what changes your agency has or

will implement.

Yes, the IPS FOIA office has hired and continues to hire additional

FOIA personnel to address the current and anticipated FOIA

demands, primarily filling vacancies for positions located in

Charleston, SC. This transition from Washington, DC to Charleston

resulted in a significant restructuring of the IPS FOIA program, as the

majority of the affected FOIA employees chose not to move to

Charleston and either transferred to other positions in the

Department’s records and information access programs (including to

FOIA litigation) or left the Department.

In July 2022, the Department began actively recruiting to fill existing

Government Information Specialist positions from the GS-7 to GS-14

levels for Charleston. To recruit in this new market, the Department

reached out to millions of potential hires by posting the USAJOBs

announcements for these vacancies on Handshake, an online

recruitment tool that can “reach the largest, most diverse, and active

early talent network in the US” with over 10 million enrolled college

students and graduates including 1,200 national colleges and

universities. The Department also began actions to recruit and hire

up to 16 student-trainees and additional contract support. By March

2023, the Department had successfully onboarded five new

employees, with others in the hiring and clearance process.

11. How does your agency use data or processing metrics to ensure

efficient management of your FOIA workload? For example, case

management reports, staff processing statistics, etc. In addition,

please specifically highlight any data analysis methods or

technologies used.

The Department uses weekly case management reports to track the

number of requests received and processed. These numbers can be

refined by Department component, queue, and case processing

stage to better identify bottlenecks and where the office should

direct its resources to ensure maximum case closure rates. The FOIA

Office also prepares a weekly report that tracks the number of

incoming FOIA requests received and closed to date, the number of

appeals received and closed during the previous week, and the

number of litigation cases received and in process.

12. Optional – If there are any other initiatives undertaken by your

agency to ensure fair and effective FOIA administration, please

describe them here.

The Department conducted agency-wide outreach on several

occasions between March 2022 and March 2023. The Department

issued agency-wide guidance on the use of electronic messaging

applications to ensure that all official business conducted on

electronic messaging devices is captured and incorporated into the

Department’s central filing system in compliance with federal

records management laws, regulations, and policies. The

Department also continues to require completion of online

mandatory records management training for all Department

employees, including a module on FOIA. As previously noted, over

120,528 Department employees have completed this course.

The FOIA Office regularly interacts with employees throughout the

Department regarding FOIA issues. It also provides training

regarding employees’ FOIA responsibilities and any changes to the

Department’s policies implementing the FOIA. Department

personnel have access to individualized FOIA briefings by the FOIA

Office, including by its FOIA Program Manager. The FOIA Office also

maintains an internal website where Department employees can

view and download guidance on the FOIA.

The FOIA Office continues to brief outgoing officials and remind

them, in writing and in individual briefings, of their responsibilities to

complete any outstanding FOIA searches before departure and to

preserve their records so that they can be searched in the future.

Incoming officials are also briefed on their records and classification

responsibilities as well as on the FOIA.

The Department continued its policy of “release to one, release to

all” during this reporting period through a series of regular postings

made to the public FOIA website (foia.state.gov) of records released

in FOIA cases, excluding any Privacy Act or first-person requests

involving privacy information. In FY 2022, the Department posted

6,233 additional records to its public FOIA website, making a total of

242,566 records available through the Department’s transparency

programs via the public website at the end of FY 2022.

SECTION III: PROACTIVE DISCLOSURES

The Attorney General’s FOIA Guidelines emphasize that “proactive

disclosure of information is . . . fundamental to the faithful application of the

FOIA.” The Guidelines direct agencies to post “records online quickly and

systematically in advance of any public request” and reiterate that agencies

should post records “in the most useful, searchable, and open formats

possible.”

1. Please describe what steps your agency takes to identify, track, and post

(a)(2) proactive disclosures.

The Department continues its “release to one, release to all” approach to

posting FOIA documents online, which it did throughout the reporting

period. Except for first-person requests (i.e., those involving privacy or

personally identifiable information), the Department endeavors to post

on its FOIA website (https://foia.state.gov) those documents released to

the public in the previous month.

In 2022, the Department started to explore additional records that could

be considered for proactive disclosures in 2023, including through the use

of existing or future technology.

2. Provide examples of material that your agency has proactively disclosed

during the past reporting year, including records that have been

requested and released three or more times in accordance with 5 U.S.C. §

552(a)(2)(D). Please include links to these materials as well.

These proactive releases include the posting of records released in

response to both FOIA and FOIA litigation cases. Collections of records

pertaining to specific subjects may be found at:

https://foia.state.gov/Search/Collections.aspx. Additional content has

been proactively released on the Department’s FOIA website. This

approach allows the public to access thousands of documents that would

otherwise only be available to individual requesters. As noted above,

6,233 records were posted to the public FOIA website in FY 2022, for a

total of 242,566 records posted to the public FOIA website as of the end

of FY 2022.

The Department regularly publishes reports and other information on its

public website at www.state.gov (e.g., the Department’s annual Country

Reports on Human Rights Practices and the annual Trafficking in Persons

Report). The Office of the Historian maintains a public website at

history.state.gov, which provides in-depth information to the public on

the history of U.S. foreign policy. In addition to a full text archive of the

Foreign Relations series, the website includes valuable encyclopedic

content on the history of U.S. relations with states around the world and

a database of the Department’s principal officers and chiefs of mission.

3. Beyond posting new material, is your agency taking steps to make the

posted information more useful to the public, especially to the

community of individuals who regularly access your agency’s website?

Yes.

4. If yes, please provide examples of such improvements. In particular,

please describe steps your agency is taking to post information in open,

machine-readable, and machine-actionable formats, to the extent

feasible. If not posting in open formats, please explain why and note any

challenges.

The Department continues to ensure that any material posted to the

FOIA website is searchable by the public, not just posted online. We also

work to group certain web postings together to make it easier for the

public to find records that we have posted online.

We continue to post documents released under the FOIA to the FOIA

Virtual Reading Room (VRR) (https://foia.state.gov/Search/Search.aspx).

The records released in most FOIA litigation cases, except in certain

instances such as Privacy Act and first-person requests, are also being

posted to the VRR, making them available to both the plaintiffs in those

cases and the public. Provided is a link that includes documents

proactively disclosed on the website:

https://foia.state.gov/Search/Collections.aspx.

5. Does your proactive disclosure process or system involve any

collaboration with agency staff outside the FOIA office? If so, describe

this interaction.

No.

6. Optional – Please describe the best practices used to improve proactive

disclosures and any challenges your agency faces in this area.

• Best practices used to improve proactive disclosures

• Any challenges your agency faces in this area

The Department is using its available resources to post online as many

documents as possible each month. Beginning in calendar year 2017,

nearly all documents released in FOIA cases are posted on the FOIA

website, except for documents responsive to certain Privacy Act and first-

person requests as well as in a few other instances. The preponderance

of information released through the Department’s FOIA process is now

posted online within two months of the release of that information to the

public. This approach exceeds the requirement to post records that have

been or are likely to be requested multiple times. It is part of a strategy

to use the website to promote transparency and to avoid duplicative

requests in the future.

SECTION IV: STEPS TAKEN TO GREATER UTILIZE TECHNOLOGY

A key component of FOIA administration is using technology to make

information available to the public and to gain efficiency in FOIA processing.

The Attorney General’s FOIA Guidelines emphasize the importance of

making FOIA websites easily navigable and complying with the FOIA.gov

interoperability requirements. Please answer the following questions to

describe how your agency is using technology to improve its FOIA

administration and the public's access to information.

1. Has your agency reviewed its FOIA-related technological capabilities to

identify resources needed to respond to current and anticipated FOIA

demands?

Yes.

2. Please briefly describe any new types of technology your agency began

using during the reporting period to support your FOIA program.

During the reporting period, the Department developed plans to launch

updates to its public FOIA website including the expected launch of the

Public Access Link feature in FOIAXpress. Additional plans to modernize

the Department’s public FOIA website and the Virtual Reading Room

were also begun.

The Department continues to enhance its current technology to respond

to FOIA demands more efficiently, including the management of the

Department’s cloud-based eRecords archive and FOIAXpress. Each digital

record in the eRecords repository is metadata enriched. These metadata

fields serve as the building blocks that allow records to be more easily

discoverable by searchers. The Department continues to explore

products to leverage Artificial Intelligence to improve the electronic

management of records in the eRecords archive. The Department

continues exploring the use of technology assisted review to filter

content from search results, thereby reducing the amount of non-

responsive material that must be reviewed.

3. Does your agency currently use any technology to automate record

processing? For example, does your agency use machine learning,

predictive coding, technology assisted review or similar tools to conduct

searches or make redactions? If so, please describe and, if possible,

estimate how much time and financial resources are saved since

implementing the technology.

Yes, the Department’s eRecords Archive leverages machine learning to

tag emails as “personal” or as “news clippings” when searches are being

conducted for responsive records. Being able to eliminate these types of

materials, as appropriate, during the initial search reduces the time and

effort needed locate responsive agency records and reduces agency

response time.

The Department also had a successful pilot from October 2022 through

January 2023 using machine learning and technology assisted review in

its Declassification Program, separate from FOIA. This pilot, conducted

by A/GIS/IPS in partnership with the Department’s Bureau of Information

Resource Management (IRM) and Center for Analytics and led by the

Department’s Chief Data Officer, trained a model to conduct

declassification reviews of electronic cable records (i.e., communications

between Washington and overseas posts such as embassies and

consulates) by using past declassification decisions from human review

from 1995-1997. The model was trained on human review decisions to

identify cable features that are typically indicative of information that is

released and that which is exempt from release. The results were

reviews that were 97%-99% in agreement with the human reviews. In

2023, the Department plans to leverage this model to complete the 25-

year review of cables from 1998. The manual review process takes an

entire year; the machine learning review takes 20-30 minutes to assign a

declassification decision to every cable. In the 2023 review, over 72,000

cables (63% of the annual total) were assigned confident decisions by the

model, requiring only minimal human quality control. The remaining

cables will be decided by human review. This process also includes

several quality-control steps and reviews of what the technical model

says can be declassified and exempt, as well as additional controls to look

for highly classified or sensitive information. Leveraging this model will

include both technology and human review moving forward, not just one

or the other.

The machine learning work for the Department’s Declassification

Program has been extended for at least the rest of 2023 to explore

additional records that could undergo review in addition to Department

cables. Additionally, A/GIS/IPS, IRM, and the Center for Analytics are

developing a new pilot for FOIA to explore machine learning searches of

centralized records and potential initial responses for newly received

requests for information that has already been processed in the past by

the Department to improve FOIA response times and customer

experience.

4. OIP issued guidance in 2017 encouraging agencies to regularly review

their FOIA websites to ensure that they contain essential resources and

are informative and user-friendly. Has your agency reviewed its FOIA

website (s) during the reporting period to ensure it addresses the

elements noted in the guidance?

Yes.

5. Did all four of your agency’s quarterly reports for Fiscal Year 2022 appear

on your agency’s website and on FOIA.gov?

Yes.

6. If your agency did not successfully post all quarterly reports, with

information appearing on FOIA.gov, please explain why and provide your

agency’s plan for ensuring that such reporting is successful in Fiscal Year

2023.

N/A

7. The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 requires all agencies to post the raw

statistical data used to compile their Annual FOIA Reports. Please

provide the link to this posting for your agency’s Fiscal Year 2020 Annual

FOIA Report and, if available, for your agency’s Fiscal Year 2021 Annual

FOIA Report.

https://foia.state.gov/Learn/Reports.aspx

8. In February 2019, DOJ and OMB issued joint Guidance establishing

interoperability standards to receive requests from the National FOIA

Portal on FOIA.gov. Are all components of your agency in compliance

with the guidance?

Yes. The Department of State requested and received an extension for its

integration with the National FOIA Portal on FOIA.gov. Integration with

the FOIA National Portal is planned for no later than May 26, 2023.

9. Optional – Please describe the best practices used in greater utilizing

technology and any challenges your agency faces in this area.

There have been major improvements in the Department’s management

of electronic records in a centralized, cloud-based eRecords archive that

is interoperable with FOIAXpress. FOIAXpress allows one platform to

complete nearly all aspects of the FOIA process electronically, including

searching for records previously provided in response to FOIA requests

contained in its document storage component. The Department

continues to explore products to leverage Artificial Intelligence to

improve the electronic management of records in the eRecords archive.

The Department also began exploring the use of technology assisted

review to filter content from search results, thereby reducing the amount

of non-responsive material that must be reviewed.

SECTION V: STEPS TAKEN TO REMOVE BARRIERS TO ACCESS, IMPROVE

TIMELINESS IN RESPONDING TO REQUESTS, AND REDUCE BACKLOGS

The Attorney General’s FOIA Guidelines instruct agencies “to remove

barriers to requesting and accessing government records and to reduce FOIA

processing backlogs.” Please answer the following questions to describe

how your agency is removing barriers to access, improving timeliness in

responding to requests, and reducing FOIA backlogs.

A. Remove Barriers to Access

1. Has your agency established alternative means of access to first-party

requested records outside of the FOIA process?

The Department receives first-party requests on various subjects.

Most requests involve access to personnel-related records, including

medical files, which can be obtained without the need to submit a

FOIA request.

2. If yes, please provide examples. If no, please indicate why not. Please

also indicate if you do not know.

B. Timeliness

3. For Fiscal Year 2022, what was the average number of days your

agency reported for adjudicating requests for expedited processing?

Please see Section VIII.A. of your agency's Fiscal Year 2022 Annual

FOIA Report.

4. If your agency's average number of days to adjudicate requests for

expedited processing was above ten calendar days, according to

Section VIII.A. of your agency's Fiscal Year 2022 Annual FOIA Report,

please describe the steps your agency will take to ensure that requests

for expedited processing are adjudicated within ten calendar days or

less.

N/A

5. Does your agency utilize a separate track for simple requests?

Yes.

6. If your agency uses a separate track for simple requests, according to

Annual FOIA Report section VII.A, was the agency overall average

number of days to process simple requests twenty working days or

fewer in Fiscal Year 2022?

No.

7. If not, did the simple track average processing time decrease

compared to the previous Fiscal Year?

Yes.

8. Please provide the percentage of requests processed by your agency

in Fiscal Year 2022 that were placed in your simple track. Please use

the following calculation based on the data from your Annual FOIA

Report: (processed simple requests from Section VII.C.1) divided by

(requests processed from Section V.A.) x 100.

12.71

9. If your agency does not track simple requests separately, was the

average number of days to process all non-expedited requests twenty

working days or fewer?

N/A

C. Backlogs

BACKLOGGED REQUESTS

10. If your agency had a backlog of requests at the close of Fiscal Year

2022, according to Annual FOIA Report Section XII.D.2., did that

backlog decrease as compared with the backlog reported at the end

of Fiscal Year 2021?

No.

11. If not, according to Annual FOIA Report Section XII.D.1., did your

agency process more requests during Fiscal Year 2022 than it did

during Fiscal Year 2021?

No.

12. If your agency’s request backlog increased during Fiscal Year 2022,

please explain why, and describe the causes that contributed to your

agency not being able to reduce its backlog. When doing so, please

also indicate if any of the following were contributing factors:

• An increase in the number of incoming requests

• A loss of staff

• An increase in the complexity of the requests received. If

possible, please provide examples or briefly describe the types

of complex requests contributing to your backlog increase

• Impact of COVID-19 and workplace and safety precautions

• Any other reasons – please briefly describe or provide examples

when possible

The Department received approximately 23% more FOIA requests in

FY 2022 than in FY 2021. This increase in the number of incoming

requests, coupled with a decrease in FOIA staffing numbers,

contributed to the increase in the FOIA backlog. The reduction in

FOIA staff was primarily a result of the Department’s decision to

transfer the majority of the FOIA case processing operations to

Charleston, SC. Most of the existing FOIA staff either transferred to

other positions within IPS or left the Department. The Department

has been actively filling and recruiting for its FOIA vacancies and has

also hired additional FOIA contract support.

The FOIA program also faced significant challenges and constraints

because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Out of concern for the safety of

its employees, for the first two quarters of FY 2022, the Department

remained in a maximum telework posture and limited on-site

presence to mission critical functions only. This posture severely

limited the number of FOIA staff that were available to work on-site

to process information stored on secured networks and directly

contributed to an increase in the FOIA backlog.

13. If you had a request backlog, please report the percentage of

requests that make up the backlog out of the total number of

requests received by your agency in Fiscal Year 2022. Please use the

following calculation based on data from you Annual FOIA Report:

(backlogged requests from Section XII.A.) divided by (requests

received from Section V.A.) x 100. If your agency has no request

backlog, please answer with “N/A.”

135%

BACKLOGGED APPEALS

14. If your agency had a backlog of appeals at the close of Fiscal Year

2022, according to Section XII.E.2. of the Annual FOIA Report, did

that backlog decrease as compared with the backlog reported at the

end of Fiscal Year 2021?

No.

15. If not, according to section XII.E.1. of the Annual FOIA Report, did

your agency process more appeals during Fiscal Year 2022 than it did

during Fiscal Year 2021?

Yes.

16. If your agency’s appeal backlog increased during Fiscal Year 2022,

please explain why, and describe the causes that contributed to your

agency not being able to reduce its backlog. When doing so, please

also indicate if any of the following were contributing factors:

• An increase in the number of incoming appeals

• A loss of staff

• An increase in the complexity of the requests received (if

possible, please provide examples or briefly describe the types

of complex requests contributing to your backlog increase)

• Impact of COVID-19 and workplace and safety precautions

• Any other reasons – please briefly describe or provide examples

when possible

In FY 2022, the Department processed 14% more FOIA appeals than

in FY 2021. Despite this increase in appeals processed, the

Department’s appeals backlog also increased in FY 2022, due to the

increase in the number of appeals received and delays in receiving

responses to consultations sent to other federal agencies.

17. If you had an appeal backlog, please report the percentage of

appeals that make up the backlog out of the total number of appeals

received by your agency in Fiscal Year 2022. Please use the following

calculation based on data from your Annual FOIA Report:

(backlogged appeals from Section XII.A.) divided by (appeals received

from Section VI.A.) x 100. If your agency did not receive any appeals

in Fiscal Year 2022 and/or has no appeal backlog, please answer with

“N/A.”

92.36%

D. Backlog Reduction Plans

18. In the 2022 guidelines for Chief FOIA Officer Reports, any agency

with a backlog of over 1000 requests in Fiscal Year 2021 were asked

to provide a plan for achieving backlog reduction in the year ahead.

Did your agency implement a backlog reduction plan last year? If so,

describe your agency’s efforts in implementing this plan and note if

your agency was able to achieve backlog reduction in Fiscal Year

2022?

Yes. The Department has developed a multi-year plan that allows for

compliance with its increasing FOIA litigation demands while making

concurrent progress in reducing its FOIA backlog. The Department

continues to follow its backlog reduction plan and update and revise

its FOIA policies and procedures to improve its FOIA program. In FY

2022, the plan was reviewed to account for updated data for

incoming requests and processing rates.

The Department’s plan provides for distinct resources for both FOIA

and FOIA litigation demands and sets an annual monthly closure rate

target for FOIA requests with the goal of eliminating the backlog

while keeping up with new, incoming FOIA requests. The

Department has been given permission to fill key FOIA vacancies that

will allow for dedicated resources in each program and will mitigate

against the need to shift resources from FOIA to FOIA litigation cases.

The Department continues internal and external training of its full-

time 306 series Government Information Specialists to process FOIA

requests. The Department also hired new part-time retired

annuitants and new full-time contract employees to process FOIA

requests. The Department intends to hire additional Government

Information Specialists and contract employees in FY 2022.

The Department intends to continue its practice of “release to one,

release to all,” in which records released in FOIA cases are posted to

the public FOIA website. Among other benefits, that practice

enables the Department to close cases based on previous releases

where records have already been posted online.

19. If your agency had a backlog of more than 1,000 requests in Fiscal

Year 2021, please explain your agency’s plan to reduce this backlog

during Fiscal Year 2022? In particular, please also detail how your

agency developed and plans to execute your backlog reduction

plans.

The Department will continue to implement the steps noted above,

including updating its FOIA processes and using FOIAXpress.

E. Reducing the Age Requests, Appeals, and Consultations (RED)

TEN OLDEST REQUESTS

20. In Fiscal Year 2022, did your agency close the ten oldest pending

perfected requests that were reported in Section VII.E. of your Fiscal

Year 2021 Annual FOIA Report?

No.

21. If no, please provide the number of these requests your agency was

able to close by the end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section VII.E. of

your Fiscal Year 2020 Annual FOIA Report. If you had fewer than ten

total oldest requests to close, please indicate that.

22. Beyond work on the ten oldest requests, please describe any steps

your agency took to reduce the overall age of your pending requests.

The Department continued to work on as many cases as possible

remotely. Many of the Department’s oldest cases either contain

classified information or are processed using a classified network, to

which the majority of FOIA employees had limited access for the first

half of FY 2022.

TEN OLDEST APPEALS

23. In Fiscal Year 2022, did your agency close the ten oldest appeals that

were reported pending in Section VI.C.5., of your Fiscal Year 2021

Annual FOIA Report?

No.

24. If no, please provide the number of these appeals your agency was

able to close by the end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section VI.C.(5)

of your Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Report. If you had fewer than

ten total oldest appeals to close, please indicate that.

25. Beyond work on the ten oldest appeals, please describe any steps

your agency took to reduce the overall age of your pending appeals.

The Appeals Officer continues to work on the oldest pending appeals

and is taking steps to improve and streamline the appeals review

process, including adding more personnel.

The Department’s posture maximizing telework created challenges

for completing the 10 oldest appeals and many of the other older

appeals. Case processing capabilities were seriously constrained due

to reduced reviewer resources, limited remote access to certain

Department systems, and only a small fraction of the staff on-site at

Department workstations for the first half of FY 2022. Additionally,

most of the older appeals were pending consultation with other

federal agencies who were faced with similar constraints regarding

the ability of staff to be on-site to process classified material. The

Department has begun implementation of a plan to permanently

shift additional resources to focus on the appeals backlog.

TEN OLDEST CONSULTATIONS

26. In Fiscal Year 2022, did your agency close the ten oldest

consultations that were reported pending in Section XII.C. of your

Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Report?

No.

27. If no, please provide the number of these consultations your agency

was able to close by the end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section

XII.C. of your Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Report. If you had fewer

than ten total oldest consultations to close, please indicate that.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING TEN OLDEST

28. If your agency did not close its ten oldest pending requests, appeals,

or consultations, please explain why and provide a plan describing

how your agency intends to close those “ten oldest” requests,

appeals, and consultations during Fiscal Year 2023.

The Department’s FOIA program faced significant challenges and

constraints due to the limited access to Department’s systems. For

the first half of FY 2022, the Department remained in a maximum

telework posture, and employee on-site presence was severely

limited. The inability of the majority of FOIA staff to access classified

information systems continued to be the primary obstacle in closing

the oldest FOIA requests, including appeals. In addition, delays by

other federal agencies in responding to consultations constrained

the Department’s ability to close the oldest appeals. After the return

to the workplace in March 2022, the Department implemented plans

to close its oldest FOIA requests.

F. Additional Information about FOIA Processing

29. Were any requests at your agency the subject of FOIA litigation

during the reporting period? If so, please describe the impact on

your agency’s overall FOIA request processing and backlog. If

possible, please indicate the number and nature of requests subject

to litigation, common causes leading to litigation, and any other

information to illustrate the impact of litigation on your overall FOIA

administration.

The Department’s FOIA litigation demands continued to be

considerable, yet the Department ended the year with fewer

litigation cases than it had at the start of FY 2022. The Department

was named as a defendant in 56 new FOIA litigation cases in FY 2022,

up slightly from the 54 new cases involving the Department in FY

2021 and significantly down from the 84 new cases involving the

Department in FY 2020. The Department ended FY 2022 with

approximately 197 total FOIA litigation cases involving 369 unique

FOIA requests. Most litigation cases are filed against the Department

for failure to respond within the statutory time limits. While FOIA

requests in litigation comprise only about 1% of all FOIA requests at

the Department, they demand a disproportionate share—

approximately 90%—of the FOIA reviewer resources, which has

contributed to the increase in the FOIA backlog.

30. How many requests during Fiscal Year 2022 involved unusual

circumstances as defined by the FOIA? (This information is available

in your agency’s FY22 raw data).

11,190