U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Office of the Associate Attorney General
August 16, 1995
The Speaker
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515Dear Mr. Speaker:
Enclosed is a copy of the Department of Justice's 1994 annual report on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) activities. This report covers the FOIA activities of all Department of Justice organizations. Because the Department as a matter of administrative discretion processes 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 first-party and third-party access requests received by the Department regardless of the particular Act cited by the requester.
A comparison of the report with the Department's 1993 annual report shows that in 1994 the Department received 2,321 fewer FOIA requests and 3,473 fewer Privacy Act requests than during 1993, which amounted to a slight annual decrease (4.4%) of total requests received, but still constituted several thousand more requests than were received in previous years. With increased manhours devoted to processing, costs increased by 15.1% in 1994.
The administration of the Freedom of Information Act consumes considerable agency resources. Calendar year 1994 costs are reported at page 23 of the report. This cost table primarily reflects those costs incurred in "processing" access requests. Not included are significant costs incurred by the Department in litigating FOIA issues for the United States Government.
I can assure you of this Administration's firm commitment to the Freedom of Information Act, to its underlying principles, and to its faithful implementation in the strong spirit of government openness established by President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno. We look forward to working together with Congress, in a constructive partnership based upon our mutual interests in sound FOIA administration, on all matters pertaining to the Act.
Sincerely,
John R. Schmidt
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