U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Office of Legal Policy
July 1, 1982
The Speaker
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515Dear Mr. Speaker:
Enclosed is a copy of the Department of Justice's 1981 annual report on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) activities. This report covers the FOIA activities of all Department of Justice organizations, including the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission which in previous years submitted a separate report.
Because in 1981 the Department, as a matter of administrative discretion, processed all requests received under the Privacy Act of 1974 (requests by individuals for access to records relating to themselves) under the FOIA as well as under the Privacy Act, the enclosed report covers all access requests regardless of the Act cited by the requester.
A comparison of the report with our 1980 report shows that the Department received 3,219 fewer FOIA requests in 1981, but received 1,069 more Privacy Act requests. Even though this is a net decrease of 2,150 requests, reported costs increased by $991,498 (5.61%) and the backlog of total unprocessed requests increased by 20.19% to 10,053. We believe that these increases are in large part due to a continuing trend toward more expansive and complex FOIA requests.
Calendar year 1981 costs are reported at page 21 of the report. This cost table primarily reflects those costs incurred in "processing" access requests. Nevertheless, to the extent that such cost figures are available or can be estimated, certain ancillary costs have been footnoted. Not included at all, however, are significant costs to the Department incurred in litigating FOIA issues for the United States Government.
While administration of the FOIA continues to demand considerable resources both in terms of time and money, the Department will continue to make a diligent effort to fully comply. At the same time, however, we are continuing our efforts to obtain FOIA amendments which we believe to be necessary to reduce the administrative burden on the entire executive branch.
Sincerely,
Jonathan C. Rose
Assistant Attorney General
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