Welcome Remarks for the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)  Advisory Committee

Good morning! I'm Debra Steidel Wall, Acting Archivist of the United States, and I welcome you all to the third  meeting of the fifth term of the Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee.

This month marks 15 years since Congress passed the OPEN Government Act of 2007, which created the Office of Government Information Services—OGIS—as the FOIA Ombudsman, and located it here at the National Archives.

Congress made a number of other important changes with the 2007 amendments, including introducing dispute resolution into FOIA administration. Today, 15 years after Congress envisioned a more collaborative FOIA process, dispute resolution is baked into the FOIA administrative process. Agency FOIA Public Liaisons are available to assist requesters at agencies throughout the federal government, including here at the National Archives, where we have FOIA Public Liaisons assigned to all our FOIA programs.

OGIS and FOIA Public Liaisons across the government are very much partners in resolving and preventing disputes. Despite a landscape that is less adversarial and more collaborative than a decade ago, challenges remain. I am pleased that this Committee is collaborating to address those challenges.

The Committee’s charter states that it “fosters dialogue between the federal government and the requester community.” That dialogue happens every time the Committee meets, whether it’s the quarterly public meetings such as this one or the subcommittee meetings that occur in between. I very much appreciate the different experiences and perspectives that the members of this Committee bring to the table, creating the very dialogue referenced in the charter.

I understand that since September, the Committee’s three subcommittees have begun reviewing the Committee’s 51 prior recommendations to search for opportunities for additional exploration. I commend the Committee for that, and remind members of the charter’s mandate that you all may recommend to me legislative action, policy changes, or executive action, among other matters while keeping in mind that the Committee is advisory only. The National Archives, while a champion on FOIA matters, does not oversee other agency FOIA programs. However, since records management is at the core of the National Archives and Records Administration’s mission, and records management and FOIA go hand in hand, NARA is pleased to take a leadership role in this area.

With that, I am happy to turn the meeting over to the Committee Chairperson, OGIS Director Alina Semo.