II. HOW TO MAKE A FOIA REQUEST

For basic information on how to make a FOIA request, visit our Website at www.usdoj.gov/oip/index.html.

A. Names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all individual agency components and offices that receive FOIA requests

Visit our Website at www.usdoj.gov/oip/04_4.html.

B. Brief Description of Agency's Response-Time Ranges (On a Component-by-Component Basis)

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL - The median response time for the Office of the Attorney General to respond to requests that have been granted expedited processing is 2 days; the median response time for "simple" requests, which do not involve voluminous records or require lengthy consultations, is 13 days; and the median response time for "complex" requests, which involve voluminous records or require lengthy or numerous consultations with Department components and other government agencies, is 71 days. Records in the "complex" category usually contain sensitive law enforcement or national security information.

OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL - The median response time for the Office of the Deputy Attorney General to respond to requests that have been granted expedited processing is 10 days; the median response time for "simple" requests, which do not involve voluminous records or require lengthy consultations, is 13 days; and the median response time for "complex" requests, which involve voluminous records or require lengthy or numerous consultations with Department components and other government agencies, is 88 days. Records in the "complex" category usually contain sensitive law enforcement or national security information.

OFFICE OF THE ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY GENERAL - The median response time for the Office of the Associate Attorney General to respond to requests that have been granted expedited processing is 14 days; the median response time for "simple" requests, which do not involve voluminous records or require lengthy consultations, is 16 days; and the median response time for "complex" requests, which involve voluminous records or require lengthy or numerous consultations with Department components and other government agencies, is 79 days. Records in the "complex" category usually contain sensitive law enforcement or national security information.

ANTITRUST DIVISION - The Antitrust Division processed 219 requests this fiscal year. The median number of days to process requests was 9 days. The median number of days for pending requests is 74 days.

BUREAU OF PRISONS - The Bureau of Prison's response times for new requests ranged from 2 days for requests accorded expedited processing to 25 days for complicated requests.

CIVIL DIVISION - Processing of requests to the Civil Division are generally completed within the statutory 20-day time period. Many requests for readily available records are processed more quickly while requests for access to large volumes or to closed files stored in regional records centers may exceed the 20-day time period.

Records of the Civil Division are primarily litigation materials. Denials of access to requested records are most frequently based upon Exemption 5 which precludes disclosure of records which would be privileged in civil discovery. These privileges from disclosure include attorney work-product, attorney-client, and deliberative process privileges.

CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION - As detailed in this report, 92% of the Civil Rights Division's 845 FOI/PA requests closed during fiscal year 1999 were completed in a median time of less than 20 days. The remaining 8% were complex requests involving requests for as many as 100,000 pages of documents, and requests requiring special consultation, or specialized review for declassification, or to protect the secrecy of the grand jury process. For these 8% of the 845 FOI/PA requests, the median time for processing is 215 days.

COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE - FOIA/PA requests are generally responded to within 10 days after receipt.

CRIMINAL DIVISION - Over the past five (5) years prior to fiscal year 1999, the Criminal Division received an average of 1,500 cases per year. This fiscal year 1,606 were received. 1,499 cases were closed in fiscal year 1998 compared to 1,573 this fiscal year. More than half of the cases closed in fiscal year 1999 were closed in less than 30 days.

DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION - For the 1999 fiscal year, the Drug Enforcement Administration took a median time of 14 days to process a case.

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION - For requests seeking discrete records or a list of cases, the response time is usually two to three weeks. For requests seeking a large volume of records, e.g., all records on the X Superfund site, the response time is closer to two to three months.

EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR IMMIGRATION REVIEW - In fiscal year 1999, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) received over 8,000 FOIA requests; up from 3,357 in fiscal year 1998 and 1,431 in fiscal year 1997. While over 5,500 of the fiscal year 1999 requests were related to the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA), the number of standard requests continued to rise from 1,580 in fiscal year 1998 to over 2,500 in fiscal year 1999.

NACARA required all individuals with final orders of deportation to file a motion to reopen in order to be eligible to request NACARA relief. This generated a large number of requests by persons who had never been in proceedings and for whom EOIR had no Record of Proceeding, but whose requests required processing by the FOIA unit.

Despite this major increase in requests received from last year, EOIR's response times for most non-NACARA related requests did not exceed 20 business days. For NACARA-related requests, EOIR's response time was between 10 and 15 business days throughout fiscal year 1999. In addition, EOIR's backlog of requests was never higher than 50 requests at any given time during fiscal year 1999.

EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR U.S. ATTORNEYS - The Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys' most frequent types of FOIA and Privacy Act requests range from fairly simple routine matters which may take less than a week to process to complex requests than can take up to nine months or more.

EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR U.S. TRUSTEES - The United States Trustee Program has 94 field offices nationwide. All FOIA requests are processed by the Office of General Counsel, Executive Office for U.S. Trustees (EOUST) in Washington, D.C. Most FOIA requests pertain to bankruptcy case administration information in one of the field offices. When the responsive documents are located in the field and forwarded to the EOUST for processing, the response time is approximately one month. When the requested information is located in the EOUST, the response time is approximately two weeks. It is important to note that many potential requesters were referred to the U.S. Trustee FOIA website where they received instant access to the requested information.

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION - The average number of business days from receipt of a request until the request is closed is 276. The average number of days for processing of responsive material is 528. (For requests received by Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters only. Information not available for field offices.)

FOREIGN CLAIMS SETTLEMENT COMMISSION - The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission received only a small number of FOIA requests over the course of the year. This year the Commission received a total of 20 requests. Unless a request involved information that must be obtained from a file in storage at the Records Center, the Commission responded to the request within no more than 3 or 4 days after receipt.

IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE - The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is decentralized, in that district offices receive, process, and disseminate information requested. INS has a multi-track system -- simple (fast track) and complex for processing requests.

Simple requests are basically for manuals, policy memorandums, and genealogy. It takes anywhere from 5 to 20 days to process these requests. Complex requests consist of alien files, research data, contracts, and personnel-related files. These requests are processed anywhere from 21 to 90 days. The varying time frames are due to INS requiring other operating units and entities (Federal Records Center) to retrieve the information and/or record. However, the major reasons for the processing delay are: 1) responsive records must be obtained from another operating unit; 2) a reduction in available staff due to vacant positions (especially in Headquarters); 3) the implementation of a new processing tool (i.e., the Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act Information Processing System -- FIPS); and 4) an increase in the new receipts.

The INS released all records sought in 42 percent of its responses, and denied some or all of the records sought in 14 percent of the responses. The Service closed the remaining cases for various administrative reasons (e.g., no records, unable to locate records, FOIA not applicable to request, etc.) For FY 1999, INS's response range for cases processed was 3 to 38 days. 75% of the time INS met the 20-day response requirement. Some of the INS field offices managed to process requests within 3 to 4 days. In this case, they are not using the tracking system, but processing solely first-in first-out. This is the exception, not the norm.

JUSTICE MANAGEMENT DIVISION - A response is usually done within a 20-day time frame (exception is requests for contracts, which requires that the contractor be notified).

NATIONAL DRUG INTELLIGENCE CENTER - The National Drug Intelligence Center does not have a FOIA backlog and usually responds to requests within the 20 days provided under the law.

OFFICE OF COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING SERVICES - The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) requires only that a FOIA request be submitted in writing; either handwritten or typed. Requests may be submitted by mail, fax or through the COPS Web site at www.usdoj.gov/cops. Most FOIA responses are completed within 18 days from the date of receipt in the COPS office.

OFFICE OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION - The Office of Dispute Resolution did not receive any FOIA requests during Fiscal Year 1999.

OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND PRIVACY - The median response time for the Office of Information and Privacy to respond to requests that have been granted expedited processing is 1 day; the median response time for "simple" requests, which do not involve voluminous records or require lengthy consultations, is 5 days; and the median response time for "complex" requests, which involve voluminous records or require lengthy or numerous consultations with Department components and other entities, is 53 days.

OFFICE OF INTELLIGENCE POLICY AND REVIEW - As a general matter, the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR) responds to access requests within the statutory time limits. In rare cases that involve processing of voluminous records, OIPR may take up to 40 working days to respond.

OFFICE OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS - The median response time for "simple" requests, which do not involve voluminous records or require lengthy consultations, is 34 days; and the median response time for "complex" requests, which involve voluminous records or require lengthy or numerous consultations with Department components and other entities, is 91 days.

OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS - The Office of Justice Programs usually responds to a FOIA request anywhere from 1 day up to 30 days depending upon the complexity of the request. Our most voluminous requests encompass grant documents, including financial status, progress reports, etc. Our most complex requests involve contract technical proposals.

OFFICE OF LEGAL COUNSEL - The Office of Legal Counsel usually responds to FOIA requests within the 20 days allowed.

OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS - The median response time for "simple" requests, which do not involve voluminous records or require lengthy consultations, is 30 days; and the median response time for "complex" requests, which involve voluminous records or require lengthy or numerous consultations with Department components and other entities, is 62 days.

OFFICE OF PARDON ATTORNEY - This component's response times vary from 1 day for requests for records the office does not possess to 40 days or more for complex requests which present novel issues and require consultation with other agencies.

OFFICE OF POLICY DEVELOPMENT - The median response time for "simple" requests, which do not involve voluminous records or require lengthy consultations, is 26 days; and the median response time for "complex" requests, which involve voluminous records or require lengthy or numerous consultations with Department components and other federal entities, is 46 days.

OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY - The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) received 128 Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act (FOIA/PA) requests during Fiscal Year (FY) 1999 and had thirteen requests pending from FY 1998. The total number of requests eligible for processing in FY 1999 was 141. Out of that number, OPR responded to 127 FOIA/PA requests, or 90.1%, during the year. Fourteen of the requests remained pending at the end of the FY on September 30, 1999. Of these, ten requests were either being processed or under final review.

The response time by OPR for processing the 127 FOIA/PA requests ranged from a low of 1 business day to a high of 881 business days. OPR responded to thirty-seven requests, or 29.1%, within seven business days of receipt. An additional 28 requests, or 22.0%, were processed between 8-14 business days. A total of 82 requests, or 64.6% of all requests, were processed by OPR within the statutory time limit of 20 business days. OPR took from 21 to 40 days to respond to an additional 18 requests, or 14.2%, for a total of 78.7% of all cases completed. OPR responded to 105 requests, or 82.7%, of the total cases processed, within 60 business days of receipt. Twenty-two requests, or 17.3%, took more than 60 days to process.

OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS - The median response time for the Office of Public Affairs to respond to requests that have been granted expedited processing is 11 days; the median response time for "simple" requests, which do not involve voluminous records or require lengthy consultations, is 28 days; and the median response time for "complex" requests, which involve voluminous records or require lengthy or numerous consultations with Department components and other entities, is 94 days.

OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL - Response times ranged from 1 to 30 days.

OFFICE OF THE SOLICITOR GENERAL - Response times ranged from 1 day to several weeks.

PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY ADVISORY OFFICE - All but one of the FOIA requests were handled the day of receipt or the day after. One response took approximately 15 days because additional information was needed from a third party before the response could be completed.

TAX DIVISION - The Tax Division will usually respond to each perfected FOIA responses (i.e., a FOIA request that meets all applicable regulatory requirements) for which no files are found within 1 to 2 days after receipt of the request. It will acknowledge receipt of a perfected FOIA request for which files are located within the same time frame or, if the request is not perfected, it will respond with reason(s) why the request cannot yet be considered.

For each perfected request for which files are found, the Tax Division will usually respond to those involving a small number of documents in less than 30 days from the date such request is received. If large numbers of documents are located, the Tax Division's response time currently ranges from 1 to 5 months from the date a perfected request is received. The same response time ranges apply to referrals from other DOJ components or other agencies.

U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE - Requests are generally acknowledged within 2 days of receipt and completed within the 20 working days. The completion time for complex requests, or those requiring consultation with other agencies, numerous locations to search for records, multiple subjects, or business submitter notifications exceeded 20 days.

U.S. NATIONAL CENTRAL BUREAU -- INTERPOL - The response time for U.S. National Central Bureau -- INTERPOL requests ranges from a two-day to a twenty-day turn around. About 90 percent of the requests involve "no record" responses.

U.S. PAROLE COMMISSION - During the past fiscal year, the members of the U.S. Parole Commission's FOIA staff have worked diligently to effectively reduce their FOIA backlog. The Commission is currently responding to almost all of its FOIA requests within the 20-working-day time frame.

C. Brief Description Why Requests are Not Granted

The most frequent reason that requests are not granted is that no records responsive to the request are located.

The primary reasons for not granting requests for which records are located is that disclosure would result in an unwarranted or clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or that the records are protected by the deliberative process or attorney work-product privilege.

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