Department of Homeland Security officials boxed up and forgot about 12,000 Freedom of Information Act unanswered requests, according to an angry Texas congressman.
“It is not acceptable for DHS’s FOIA requests to go unanswered,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas. “The American people deserve a transparent and efficient department where efforts are not duplicative and taxpayer dollars are effectively and efficiently used. I hope DHS takes immediate action to correct this unproductive process and provide the information requested by and for the American people.”
McCaul is chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.
McCaul was referring to the results of a review by the Government Accountability Office of FOIA processing by DHS officials since they set a goal in 2011 of reducing a backlog of 42,417 unanswered requests by at least 15 percent each year.
But the backlog actually grew — to more than 51,000 unanswered requests by 2013, according to GAO.
Besides the 12,000 FOIA requests that were boxed up and forgotten, GAO also found another 11,000 requests that DHS officials answered incorrectly.
The thousands of forgotten and improperly closed requests help explain an odd situation unearthed by GAO — DHS eliminated more backlogged FOIA requests than any other federal agency between 2011 and 2013 at the same time it was responsible for half of all such requests throughout the government.
“DHS has reported processing approximately 200,000 FOIA requests in fiscal year 2013 — the most of any federal government agency,” GAO told McCaul, who requested the GAO study.
“Moreover, requests have more than doubled since 2009, and it also has reported the largest backlog of unprocessed requests of any federal agency. At the end of fiscal year 2013, approximately half of all reported backlogged federal FOIA requests (about 50,000 of 95,000) belonged to DHS,” GAO said.
Officials at DHS have been coping with a 125 percent increase in the number of FOIA requests submitted to the sprawling department between 2009 and 2013. Federal law requires officials to respond to FOIA requests within 20 working days after receiving them.
Many of the requests submitted to DHS, which includes the Customs and Border Protection, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agencies, concern issues such as border crossings and disaster relief operations.
One of the FOIA requests processed by FEMA officials required review of more than 4 million pages of federal documents, according to GAO.
Go here to read the full GAO report.
Mark Tapscott is executive editor of the Washington Examiner.
