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03/15/2022

A Federal Agency Spent Years Fighting to Uphold These Ridiculous Redactions

“11:45 is fine, will be at my desk”

“With the retirement of EXIM Bank’s former Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), EXIM Bank hired a new CISO.”

These are just two lines of innocuous text the Export-Import Bank (“EXIM”) fought to keep redacted in Cause of Action Institute’s (“CoA Institute”) Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) lawsuit that began in July 2019. In a final decision released in January 2022, Judge James Boasberg of the U.S District Court for the District of Columbia  ruled that EXIM would finally have to disclose this information after years of stonewalling.

CoA Institute submitted its first FOIA request to EXIM on September 20, 2018 seeking communications with its largest stakeholders and beneficiaries.  It followed-up with a second request in May 2019 seeking information about a Government Accountability Office report that found EXIM failed to use a readily available federal database to ensure it was not financing companies with delinquent federal debt.

We previously covered Judge Boasberg’s first ruling that EXIM would have to disclose records in February 2021. Discussing records regarding EXIM communications with the GAO, Judge Boasberg expressed marked displeasure with the agency: “Even the briefest in camera review reveals that [the agency’s] description [for why it withheld records] is plainly overbroad and — at least with respect to some of the withheld documents — seemingly inaccurate.”

As we celebrate Sunshine Week 2022, it’s important to remember how FOIA remains an imperfect tool that often requires litigation to get federal agencies to act in a transparent manner. Any FOIA reform must address this problem, particularly as it concerns the use of Exemption 5 and the deliberative-process privilege.

Here are the rest of the overbroad and plainly unjustified redactions EXIM was finally forced to disclose after almost two and a half years of litigation:

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Read more of CoA Institute’s work on EXIM:

 

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02/25/2021

Federal Judge Rejects Export-Import Bank’s Arguments for Refusing to Disclose Public Records

Judge James Boasberg of the U.S District Court for the District of Columbia ruled this week that the Export-Import Bank (“EXIM Bank”) must produce a variety of records it initially withheld in response to two FOIA requests from Cause of Action Institute (“CoA Institute”). CoA Institute’s September 20, 2018 FOIA request sought all communications to or from EXIM leadership regarding key EXIM stakeholders and beneficiaries. The May 2019 FOIA request sought information after a Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) report found EXIM potentially provided billions in financing to companies with delinquent federal debt by failing to use a readily available federal database.

EXIM attempted to shield the records from disclosure under FOIA Exemption 5 and the deliberative-process privilege (a.k.a., the “withhold it because you want to” exemption). After reviewing the withholdings and unredacted versions of the records in camera, the Court issued a forceful opinion that describes numerous instances where the agency either inappropriately withheld public records or failed to adequately defend its refusal to disclose them.

Page 13 regarding cybersecurity documents:

“[T]he agency’s Vaughn Index omits all mention of one of the two withheld memoranda.  The Court only because privy to its existence by way of in camera review, finding it tucked within a different record marked for other purposes. It need scarcely be said that the Court cannot affirm Defendant’s withhold of a record it never even acknowledges. . . . [I]t is painful enough for the Court to laboriously pore over all of these in camera records even without errors.”

Pages 17–18 regarding media outreach and marketing documents, events and conference documents, and high-level statistics:

“Instead of discussing (or even alluding to) these parts of the senior staff reports, Defendant simply approaches the documents from a generic, 30,000-foot view while ever so briefly narrowing in on a few unrepresentative portions . . . . [M]uch material in the reports hardly qualifies as ‘advisory opinions, recommendations and deliberations,’ nondisclosure of which is necessary to “protect[] the decision making processes of government agencies. . . . [T]he agency bears the burden of establishing that the withheld information is both predecisional and deliberative, such that it comes within the privilege. It has not discharged that obligation with respect to the excerpts examined here.”

Pages 19–20 regarding meeting documents:

“[R]eprising its earlier oversight, Defendant neglects to include in its Vaughn Index one of the three sets of meeting minutes, as well as one of the two meeting agendas.  The Court, once again, only discovered their existence during its in camera review.  Such repeated carelessness only undermines the Court’s confidence in the attention the Government has devoted to its responsibilities here.  The second problem is perhaps worse: notwithstanding its near-complete withholdings, Defendant in its submissions completely ignores all six records, declining even to mention them in its declaration and briefing.  That lapse is all the more glaring where [CoA Institute] explicitly flagged the deficiency in its Cross-Motion.”

Page 23 regarding an e-mail from EXIM’s Assistant General Counsel:

“The Court could go on — for instance, Defendant never establishes . . . that the underlying information was kept confidential. . . . This record must see the light of day.”

Pages 30–31 regarding EXIM communications with the GAO:

“Even the briefest in camera review reveals that this description is plainly overbroad and — at least with respect to some of the withheld documents — seemingly inaccurate, as their content has nothing to do with ‘fraud[] that had been committed against the agency.’”

Page 33 regarding a single EXIM e-mail to the GAO:

“In addition to thus appearing to flunk Exemption 5’s threshold requirement . . . in no fashion may the document be deemed deliberative. . . . Defendant has pointed to no foreseeable harm from its disclosure, the agency must release it to Plaintiff.”

Page 41 regarding efforts to segregate and release non-exempt portions of records:

“[CoA Institute] has highlighted several red flags undermining the ‘presumption’ that Defendant has disclosed all reasonably segregable material, including the basic reality that a number of the records the Government claims were only redacted in part appear to have been redacted in full.  The Court’s own in camera review, moreover, causes it further [to] question whether the Bank has adequately complied with FOIA’s segregability mandate.”

Read more of CoA Institute’s work on EXIM:

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10/30/2020

Cause of Action Institute files opening brief in DC Circuit appeal over definition of a “record” under the Freedom of Information Act

For decades, the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) has provided the public with access to records of the Executive Branch.  Yet the definition of a “record” has never been definitively established.  To be sure, there has been a great deal of litigation over the meaning of an “agency record” (as opposed to a congressional record or a personal record). But the antecedent question of what exactly a “record” is has only recently started working its way up through the courts.  Cause of Action Institute (“CoA Institute”) filed its opening brief today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit as part of its efforts to get some resolution to this important question.

The current debate of the definition of a “record” can be traced back to the D.C. Circuit’s 2016 decision in American Immigration Lawyers Association v. Executive Office for Immigration Review (“AILA”).  The AILA court held that agencies may not use “non-responsive” as a pseudo-exemption to withhold information within an otherwise responsive record.  Unfortunately, the court left the door open to agencies treating that same information as discrete “records.”  Because the court did not provide clarity on the actual definition of a “record,” and merely opined to the possible limits of what a “record” could be, the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy (“OIP”) issued guidance purporting to fill that gap.  The legality of that guidance, and its consistency with FOIA, is at the heart of CoA Institute’s appeal.

In its guidance, OIP directs agencies to apply part of the Privacy Act’s definition of a “record” when processing FOIA requests.  That definition, in relevant part, treats any “item, collection, or grouping of information” as a potential record.  Yet OIP goes further and also instructs agencies to define records on a case-by-case basis depending on the subject-matter of an individual FOIA request, as interpreted by the agency.  That sort of subjective understanding of a “record,” which could lead to divergent treatment of the same informational material across the government, or even between components of a single agency, is fatally flawed.

As CoA Institute argues in its opening brief, OIP’s definition is problematic—along with the district court’s failure to invalidate the policy—precisely because the FOIA does define a “record.”  The statutory text, as clarified by Supreme Court precedent, sets out a four-part definition that encompasses (1) any information material, (2) created or obtained by an agency, (3) within an agency’s control when a FOIA request is submitted, and (4) in the format maintained by an agency at the time of a request.  Again, this definition logically follows from the statutory text.

Even if the FOIA were ambiguous, the plain meaning of a “record,” as evidenced by common usage, clearly refers to materials that exist objectively and independent of any given FOIA request.  OIP’s guidance violates this common-sense understanding, just as it violates the well-established legal principle that a requester can only seek disclosure of existing records.  An agency cannot define a “record”—that is, bring it into existence—as part of its efforts to process a FOIA request.  Not only does this confuse a responsiveness review with efforts to search for and identify potential responsive records, but it invites abuse.  Indeed, agencies have already shown their eagerness to treat information formerly withheld as “non-responsive” as discrete records.  That makes a mockery of AILA.  Finally, the Privacy Act, which OIP’s guidance refers to as controlling in the FOIA context, is simply inapt.

Given the confusion in the district court over the correct definition of “record,” it is vital that the D.C. Circuit provide clarity to agencies and requesters alike.  CoA Institute’s argument comports with the statutory text, plain meaning, and existing FOIA caselaw.  OIP’s guidance, if it is allowed to stand, would be a huge blow to transparency and create an incentive for agencies to get even more creative in their efforts to block transparency.

Ryan P. Mulvey is Counsel at Cause of Action Institute.  He is lead counsel in Cause of Action Institute v. Department of Justice, No. 20-5182 (D.C. Cir.), the appeal discussed in this blogpost.  He may be contacted at ryan.mulvey@causeofaction.org.

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05/4/2020

OMB Publishes Proposed Revisions to Outdated FOIA Fee Guidelines Following CoA Institute Lawsuit

The White House Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) published a notice of proposed revisions to its Uniform Freedom of Information Act Fee Schedule and Guidelines in today’s issue of the Federal Register.  OMB first published the guidelines, which are binding on all agencies subject to the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), over thirty-years ago.  They have never been updated, despite repeated requests from the transparency community, the FOIA Federal Advisory Committee, and the Archivist of the United States.  The much-anticipated revisions aim to improve FOIA administration and ensure more equitable resolution of fee issues across the government.  OMB’s notice comes amid a lawsuit filed by Cause of Action Institute (“CoA Institute”) to force such an update.

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04/6/2020

Cause of Action Institute Challenges Commerce’s Withholding of Section 232 Uranium Report, Using Policy and Practice of Deferring to White House Disclosure Directives

Last year, Cause of Action Institute (“CoA Institute”) stepped up its ongoing battle with the Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) over disclosure of Section 232 secretarial reports by filing a lawsuit against the agency for failure to respond to Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests seeking access to a final report concerning the national-security effects of uranium imports.  This past week, CoA Institute filed its motion for summary judgment, laying out the case for Commerce’s failure to meet its FOIA obligations and exposing the infirmities of the government’s privilege claims.

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03/20/2020

CoA Institute Joins Coalition Supporting Transparency and Public Access During Coronavirus Emergency

Today, Cause of Action Institute joined the National Freedom of Information Coalition and 130 other organizations in a statement urging government transparency during the current coronoavirus emergency.

At all times, but most especially during times of national crisis, trust and credibility are the government’s most precious assets. As people are asked to make increasing sacrifices in their daily lives for the greater good of public health, the legitimacy of government decision-making requires a renewed commitment to transparency.

In times of crisis, access to information is vital to protecting public health and the people’s rights. As federal, state, and local governments implement emergency measures, they should make every effort to commit to transparency throughout this process.

Read the letter here.

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01/22/2020

Commerce Department Ignores Congressional Mandate to Release Auto Tariffs Report, Citing New OLC Opinion on Executive Privilege

Last year, Cause of Action Institute (“CoA Institute”) filed two Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests for a copy of the Secretary of Commerce’s final report to the President under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 regarding the national security impacts of the importation of automobiles.  That report, which must be prepared prior to the imposition of tariffs, is required by law to be published in the Federal Register, subject only to redaction for classified and proprietary information.  After Commerce failed to publish the report, and refused to release it under the FOIA, we filed a lawsuit to compel disclosure. Learn More

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