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Skriven 2005-12-14 23:33:08 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0512144) for Wed, 2005 Dec 14
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Executive Order: Improving Agency Disclosure of Information
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 14, 2005

Executive Order: Improving Agency Disclosure of Information




By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws
of the United States of America, and to ensure appropriate agency
disclosure of information, and consistent with the goals of section 552 of
title 5, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy.

(a) The effective functioning of our constitutional democracy depends upon
the participation in public life of a citizenry that is well informed. For
nearly four decades, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has provided an
important means through which the public can obtain information regarding
the activities of Federal agencies. Under the FOIA, the public can obtain
records from any Federal agency, subject to the exemptions enacted by the
Congress to protect information that must be held in confidence for the
Government to function effectively or for other purposes.

(b) FOIA requesters are seeking a service from the Federal Government and
should be treated as such. Accordingly, in responding to a FOIA request,
agencies shall respond courteously and appropriately. Moreover, agencies
shall provide FOIA requesters, and the public in general, with
citizen-centered ways to learn about the FOIA process, about agency records
that are publicly available (e.g., on the agency's website), and about the
status of a person's FOIA request and appropriate information about the
agency's response.

(c) Agency FOIA operations shall be both results-oriented and produce
results. Accordingly, agencies shall process requests under the FOIA in an
efficient and appropriate manner and achieve tangible, measurable
improvements in FOIA processing. When an agency's FOIA program does not
produce such results, it should be reformed, consistent with available
resources appropriated by the Congress and applicable law, to increase
efficiency and better reflect the policy goals and objectives of this
order.

(d) A citizen-centered and results-oriented approach will improve service
and performance, thereby strengthening compliance with the FOIA, and will
help avoid disputes and related litigation.

Sec. 2. Agency Chief FOIA Officers.

(a) Designation. The head of each agency shall designate within 30 days of
the date of this order a senior official of such agency (at the Assistant
Secretary or equivalent level), to serve as the Chief FOIA Officer of that
agency. The head of the agency shall promptly notify the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB Director) and the Attorney General of
such designation and of any changes thereafter in such designation.

(b) General Duties. The Chief FOIA Officer of each agency shall, subject to
the authority of the head of the agency:

(i) have agency-wide responsibility for efficient and appropriate
compliance with the FOIA;

(ii) monitor FOIA implementation throughout the agency, including through
the use of meetings with the public to the extent deemed appropriate by the
agency's Chief FOIA Officer, and keep the head of the agency, the chief
legal officer of the agency, and the Attorney General appropriately
informed of the agency's performance in implementing the FOIA, including
the extent to which the agency meets the milestones in the agency's plan
under section 3(b) of this order and training and reporting standards
established consistent with applicable law and this order;

(iii) recommend to the head of the agency such adjustments to agency
practices, policies, personnel, and funding as may be necessary to carry
out the policy set forth in section 1 of this order;

(iv) review and report, through the head of the agency, at such times and
in such formats as the Attorney General may direct, on the agency's
performance in implementing the FOIA; and

(v) facilitate public understanding of the purposes of the FOIA's statutory
exemptions by including concise descriptions of the exemptions in both the
agency's FOIA handbook issued under section 552(g) of title 5, United
States Code, and the agency's annual FOIA report, and by providing an
overview, where appropriate, of certain general categories of agency
records to which those exemptions apply.

(c) FOIA Requester Service Center and FOIA Public Liaisons. In order to
ensure appropriate communication with FOIA requesters:

(i) Each agency shall establish one or more FOIA Requester Service Centers
(Center), as appropriate, which shall serve as the first place that a FOIA
requester can contact to seek information concerning the status of the
person's FOIA request and appropriate information about the agency's FOIA
response. The Center shall include appropriate staff to receive and respond
to inquiries from FOIA requesters;

(ii) The agency Chief FOIA Officer shall designate one or more agency
officials, as appropriate, as FOIA Public Liaisons, who may serve in the
Center or who may serve in a separate office. FOIA Public Liaisons shall
serve as supervisory officials to whom a FOIA requester can raise concerns
about the service the FOIA requester has received from the Center,
following an initial response from the Center staff. FOIA Public Liaisons
shall seek to ensure a service-oriented response to FOIA requests and
FOIA-related inquiries. For example, the FOIA Public Liaison shall assist,
as appropriate, in reducing delays, increasing transparency and
understanding of the status of requests, and resolving disputes. FOIA
Public Liaisons shall report to the agency Chief FOIA Officer on their
activities and shall perform their duties consistent with applicable law
and agency regulations;

(iii) In addition to the services to FOIA requesters provided by the Center
and FOIA Public Liaisons, the agency Chief FOIA Officer shall also consider
what other FOIA-related assistance to the public should appropriately be
provided by the agency;

(iv) In establishing the Centers and designating FOIA Public Liaisons, the
agency shall use, as appropriate, existing agency staff and resources. A
Center shall have appropriate staff to receive and respond to inquiries
from FOIA requesters;

(v) As determined by the agency Chief FOIA Officer, in consultation with
the FOIA Public Liaisons, each agency shall post appropriate information
about its Center or Centers on the agency's website, including contact
information for its FOIA Public Liaisons. In the case of an agency without
a website, the agency shall publish the information on the Firstgov.gov
website or, in the case of any agency with neither a website nor the
capability to post on the Firstgov.gov website, in the Federal Register;
and

(vi) The agency Chief FOIA Officer shall ensure that the agency has in
place a method (or methods), including through the use of the Center, to
receive and respond promptly and appropriately to inquiries from FOIA
requesters about the status of their requests. The Chief FOIA Officer shall
also consider, in consultation with the FOIA Public Liaisons, as
appropriate, whether the agency's implementation of other means (such as
tracking numbers for requests, or an agency telephone or Internet hotline)
would be appropriate for responding to status inquiries.

Sec. 3. Review, Plan, and Report.

(a) Review. Each agency's Chief FOIA Officer shall conduct a review of the
agency's FOIA operations to determine whether agency practices are
consistent with the policies set forth in section 1 of this order. In
conducting this review, the Chief FOIA Officer shall:

(i) evaluate, with reference to numerical and statistical benchmarks where
appropriate, the agency's administration of the FOIA, including the
agency's expenditure of resources on FOIA compliance and the extent to
which, if any, requests for records have not been responded to within the
statutory time limit (backlog);

(ii) review the processes and practices by which the agency assists and
informs the public regarding the FOIA process;

(iii) examine the agency's:

(A) use of information technology in responding to FOIA requests, including
without limitation the tracking of FOIA requests and communication with
requesters;

(B) practices with respect to requests for expedited processing; and

(C) implementation of multi-track processing if used by such agency;

(iv) review the agency's policies and practices relating to the
availability of public information through websites and other means,
including the use of websites to make available the records described in
section 552(a)(2) of title 5, United States Code; and

(v) identify ways to eliminate or reduce its FOIA backlog, consistent with
available resources and taking into consideration the volume and complexity
of the FOIA requests pending with the agency.

(b) Plan.

(i) Each agency's Chief FOIA Officer shall develop, in consultation as
appropriate with the staff of the agency (including the FOIA Public
Liaisons), the Attorney General, and the OMB Director, an agency-specific
plan to ensure that the agency's administration of the FOIA is in
accordance with applicable law and the policies set forth in section 1 of
this order. The plan, which shall be submitted to the head of the agency
for approval, shall address the agency's implementation of the FOIA during
fiscal years 2006 and 2007.

(ii) The plan shall include specific activities that the agency will
implement to eliminate or reduce the agency's FOIA backlog, including (as
applicable) changes that will make the processing of FOIA requests more
streamlined and effective, as well as increased reliance on the
dissemination of records that can be made available to the public through a
website or other means that do not require the public to make a request for
the records under the FOIA.

(iii) The plan shall also include activities to increase public awareness
of FOIA processing, including as appropriate, expanded use of the agency's
Center and its FOIA Public Liaisons.

(iv) The plan shall also include, taking appropriate account of the
resources available to the agency and the mission of the agency, concrete
milestones, with specific timetables and outcomes to be achieved, by which
the head of the agency, after consultation with the OMB Director, shall
measure and evaluate the agency's success in the implementation of the
plan.

(c) Agency Reports to the Attorney General and OMB Director.

(i) The head of each agency shall submit a report, no later than 6 months
from the date of this order, to the Attorney General and the OMB Director
that summarizes the results of the review under section 3(a) of this order
and encloses a copy of the agency's plan under section 3(b) of this order.
The agency shall publish a copy of the agency's report on the agency's
website or, in the case of an agency without a website, on the Firstgov.gov
website, or, in the case of any agency with neither a website nor the
capability to publish on the Firstgov.gov website, in the Federal Register.

(ii) The head of each agency shall include in the agency's annual FOIA
reports for fiscal years 2006 and 2007 a report on the agency's development
and implementation of its plan under section 3(b) of this order and on the
agency's performance in meeting the milestones set forth in that plan,
consistent with any related guidelines the Attorney General may issue under
section 552(e) of title 5, United States Code.

(iii) If the agency does not meet a milestone in its plan, the head of the
agency shall:

(A) identify this deficiency in the annual FOIA report to the Attorney
General;

(B) explain in the annual report the reasons for the agency's failure to
meet the milestone;

(C) outline in the annual report the steps that the agency has already
taken, and will be taking, to address the deficiency; and

(D) report this deficiency to the President's Management Council.

Sec. 4. Attorney General.

(a) Report. The Attorney General, using the reports submitted by the
agencies under subsection 3(c)(i) of this order and the information
submitted by agencies in their annual FOIA reports for fiscal year 2005,
shall submit to the President, no later than 10 months from the date of
this order, a report on agency FOIA implementation. The Attorney General
shall consult the OMB Director in the preparation of the report and shall
include in the report appropriate recommendations on administrative or
other agency actions for continued agency dissemination and release of
public information. The Attorney General shall thereafter submit two
further annual reports, by June 1, 2007, and June 1, 2008, that provide the
President with an update on the agencies' implementation of the FOIA and of
their plans under section 3(b) of this order.

(b) Guidance. The Attorney General shall issue such instructions and
guidance to the heads of departments and agencies as may be appropriate to
implement sections 3(b) and 3(c) of this order.

Sec. 5. OMB Director. The OMB Director may issue such instructions to the
heads of agencies as are necessary to implement this order, other than
sections 3(b) and 3(c) of this order.

Sec. 6. Definitions. As used in this order:

(a) the term "agency" has the same meaning as the term "agency" under
section 552(f)(1) of title 5, United States Code; and

(b) the term "record" has the same meaning as the term "record" under
section 552(f)(2) of title 5, United States Code.

Sec. 7. General Provisions.

(a) The agency reviews under section 3(a) of this order and agency plans
under section 3(b) of this order shall be conducted and developed in
accordance with applicable law and applicable guidance issued by the
President, the Attorney General, and the OMB Director, including the laws
and guidance regarding information technology and the dissemination of
information.

(b) This order:

(i) shall be implemented in a manner consistent with applicable law and
subject to the availability of appropriations;

(ii) shall not be construed to impair or otherwise affect the functions of
the OMB Director relating to budget, legislative, or administrative
proposals; and

(iii) is intended only to improve the internal management of the executive
branch and is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit,
substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by a party
against the United States, its departments, agencies, instrumentalities, or
entities, its officers or employees, or any other person.

GEORGE W. BUSH

THE WHITE HOUSE,

December 14, 2005.

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