U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Office of the Associate Attorney General
The Associate Attorney General Washington, D.C. 20530
April 13, 1998
The Vice President
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510Dear Mr. Vice President:
Enclosed is a copy of the Department of Justice's 1997 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 about 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.
In accordance with the provisions of the Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-231, this report is a transition year report containing statistics covering a nine-month period, and future annual reports will contain statistics compiled on a fiscal year basis. A comparison of this year's report with the Department's 1996 annual report shows that in 1997 the Department received FOIA and Privacy Act requests at an annual rate of 176,212 requests, a 15.6% increase over the previous year. The costs for this period are reported in the cost table at page 20 of the report, which 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, as amended by the Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996, 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 continuing to work together with Congress, in a constructive partnership based upon our mutual interests in sound FOIA administration, on all matters pertaining to the Act.
Sincerely,
Raymond C. Fisher
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