In accordance with the Attorney General’s guidelines, USAID closed its ten oldest requests, appeals and consultations. To do so, an “Oldest Ten Taskforce” (Taskforce) was created to focus on these complex requests. The Taskforce worked these requests while simultaneously processing their ordinary case loads.
USAID reduced the number of administrative appeals received. In Fiscal Year 2012, USAID received 18 administrative appeals and this number was reduced by 50% to nine (9) administrative appeals received in Fiscal Year 2013. The adoption of an “appeal proof” approach, entailing sound and legally defensible analyses yielded comprehensive, detailed release determinations letters and redacted records which led to the reduction of appeals.
USAID launched a “Records Management & Access” agency-wide training. The Records Management Training has been a long-standing training at USAID. However, to build upon the importance of records management when searching for agency records in response to a FOIA request, the “Access” or FOIA component was added to what is now a week-long training. The FOIA portion expounds upon the importance of FOIA for all agency staff and not just the Government Information Specialists who process FOIA requests 100% of the time. The training includes a FOIA overview, how to scope a request, how to conduct a search for responsive records, and the importance of an administrative record.
