In 2010, the State Department took an average of 144 days to process simple Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, requests, 284 days for complex requests and 435 days for expedited requests, according to the agency’s 2010 FOIA report (see Page 18).
So expedited requests take three times longer than simple requests? How odd. Government bureaucracy is a curious thing.
Below is the elapsed time since I filed my first FOIA request with the State Department on Dec. 28, 2010. In that FOIA, I requested applications filed in response to State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor‘s June 2010 Request for Proposals. Download this FOIA request here. See additional letters at Cuba Money Project’s FOIA Tracker).
The State Department’s FOIA backlog stands at 13,579 requests.
Who’s responsible: Assistant Secretary for Administration Joyce A. Barr is teh State Department’s Chief FOIA Officer.
Public Liaison Marianne Manheim is responsible for handling complaints about the processing of FOIAs. Her contact information:
Office of Information Programs and Services
A/GIS/IPS/RL
U. S. Department of State
Washington, D. C. 20522-8100
Phone number: 202-261-8484
