GovernmentExecutive.com

Bush administration officials on Tuesday defended an effort to move a Freedom of Information Act oversight office from the National Archives to the Justice Department, saying Justice already does tasks given to the new office by a recently enacted law.

"Most of the proposed functions for the new Office of Government Information Services are duplicative of activities already being performed by DOJ," an Office of Management and Budget spokesman told CongressDaily in an e-mail.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, say language in President Bush's fiscal 2009 budget proposal that moves the oversight office to the Justice Department is an attempt to undo part of a recent Open Government Act, which alters federal FOIA procedures.

Signed by Bush on Dec. 31, the new law says an Information Services Office within the National Archives will do such jobs as reviewing agencies' compliance with FOIA and housing a FOIA ombudsman.

But in separate statements, OMB and Justice spokesmen noted Justice has long set federal policy on FOIA matters and already mediates FOIA disputes with requesters.

The OMB spokesman said the National Archives lacks experience with FOIA issues "and mandating such a role could detract from [the agency's] core mission" of storing federal records.

In a letter sent Tuesday to OMB Director Nussle, however, Leahy and Cornyn, who sponsored the FOIA bill in the Senate, said the new law put the new office in the National Archives to keep it independent of Justice, which already represents agencies sued by FOIA requesters.

"We did not want the same agency to both mediate FOIA disputes and defend them in court," the senators wrote. Moving the office would violate the legislative stated intent of the recent FOIA bill, they said.

COMMENTS

• This was a good change. I can't imagine putting our records keepers in charge of FOIA requests. What kind of thought went into this law? Does congress think we are flush with lawyers? They have to review everything we have before it is released to ensure we are not releasing sensitive personal information, contractor information or even foreign government information. It is not as simple as some people think especially with the litigation attorneys standing by just waiting to sue. Hard to believe that all of these politicians are lawyers or perhaps they are just feeding more business to their friends. They are certainly not concerned with the American public, they never have been! NI Posted February 8, 2008 10:34 AM
• In 1987 The Administrative Conference of the United States said that the Justice Department could and should do more to publicize the FOIA mediation and resolution services to help end long backlogs and give FOIA requesters a meaningful alternative to litigation to resolve disputes. In the 21 years since that study, little has changed. It's time to try something different. Rick Blum Posted February 7, 2008 4:01 PM
• Why is anyone surprised by this development? This Administration has consistently acted as if it was above the law and picked and chosen which laws it would comply with. David L. Carroll Posted February 7, 2008 11:00 AM