Online access to federal records lags,study says Few agencies comply with electronic FOIA, research institute says The Associated Press Monday, March 12, 2007 Federal agencies have dragged their feet on implementing a 10-year-old law that requires them to use the Internet to make government documents easily available, a new study says. The result is that the public is blocked from easier access to information, the report says, and the cost of answering information requests is driven up. The study by the National Security Archive, for official release today, found widespread failure among federal agencies to follow the Electronic Freedom of Information Act amendments that took effect in 1997. The changes constituted some of the most significant modernizations of the original 40-year-old law that first guaranteed citizens the right to government information. "Federal agencies are flunking the online test and keeping us in the dark," said Thomas Blanton, director of the independent, nongovernmental Washington-based research institute. The study was funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which focuses on journalism. The archive's review of all 91 federal agencies with chief FOIA officers, along with 58 components of agencies (such as the Air Force within the Department of Defense) that handle more than 500 documents a year, found: Just 22 percent of federal agencies and components fully followed the law and posted on the Web all the required categories of documents (agency opinions and orders; frequently requested records; policy statements; staff guidance). Just over one-third of agencies and components provided an index of their records, as required, to help locate documents. Only a quarter of agencies provided online forms for submitting FOIA requests. Many of the record-related Web links that do exist are wrong or missing, Blanton said. A few agencies bucked the trend and showed the benefits of using the Internet, particularly the Education Department and NASA, the study found. NASA is an example of effective use of the Web, Blanton said. The agency posts comprehensive guidance on FOIA for visitors, links all its component FOIA Web sites, and also has posted many documents on the Columbia space shuttle disaster, a tragedy that had drawn many inquiries for information. "They don't get FOIA requests on Columbia anymore, because it's up on the Web," Blanton said. If an agency would follow the law, "it dramatically lowers the cost for government, not just for FOIA but for all the handling of records." The costs of handling FOIA - estimated at $319 million in 2005 - could be sharply curtailed if agencies relied more on the Web, since frequently requested documents would already be public and electronic records could more easily be shared, Blanton said. Backlogs could be reduced, too. Congress shares some of the blame for the failure of the law because it did not create enforcement provisions, he said. The result is that the public is blocked from easier access to information, the report says, and the cost of answering information requests is driven up. The study by the National Security Archive, for official release today, found widespread failure among federal agencies to follow the Electronic Freedom of Information Act amendments that took effect in 1997. The changes constituted some of the most significant modernizations of the original 40-year-old law that first guaranteed citizens the right to government information. "Federal agencies are flunking the online test and keeping us in the dark," said Thomas Blanton, director of the independent, nongovernmental Washington-based research institute. The study was funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which focuses on journalism. The archive's review of all 91 federal agencies with chief FOIA officers, along with 58 components of agencies (such as the Air Force within the Department of Defense) that handle more than 500 documents a year, found: Just 22 percent of federal agencies and components fully followed the law and posted on the Web all the required categories of documents (agency opinions and orders; frequently requested records; policy statements; staff guidance). Just over one-third of agencies and components provided an index of their records, as required, to help locate documents. Only a quarter of agencies provided online forms for submitting FOIA requests. Many of the record-related Web links that do exist are wrong or missing, Blanton said. A few agencies bucked the trend and showed the benefits of using the Internet, particularly the Education Department and NASA, the study found. NASA is an example of effective use of the Web, Blanton said. The agency posts comprehensive guidance on FOIA for visitors, links all its component FOIA Web sites, and also has posted many documents on the Columbia space shuttle disaster, a tragedy that had drawn many inquiries for information. "They don't get FOIA requests on Columbia anymore, because it's up on the Web," Blanton said. If an agency would follow the law, "it dramatically lowers the cost for government, not just for FOIA but for all the handling of records." The costs of handling FOIA - estimated at $319 million in 2005 - could be sharply curtailed if agencies relied more on the Web, since frequently requested documents would already be public and electronic records could more easily be shared, Blanton said. Backlogs could be reduced, too. Congress shares some of the blame for the failure of the law because it did not create enforcement provisions, he said. The full NSA report is at http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB216/index.htm