2011 CHIEF FOIA OFFICER REPORT - STEPS TAKEN TO APPLY THE PRESUMPTION OF OPENNESS

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005655864
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: June 24, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 9, 2011
• Case Number: F-2011-00003
• Publication Date: March 8, 2011

APPROVED FOR RELEASE[I
DATE: 06-Sep-2011
2011 Chief FOIA Officer Report
Central Intelligence Agency
March 8, 2011
Steps Taken to Apply the Presumption of Openness
1. Describe below the steps your agency has taken to ensure that the
presumption [of openness] is being applied to all decisions involving
the FOIA. To do so you should answer the questions listed below and
then include any additional information you would like to describe
how your agency is working to provide the presumption of openness.
Both the President's FOIA Memorandum and the Attorney General's FOIA
Guidelines continue to be widely circulated and discussed with all individuals
involved in the FOIA process. CIA officers involved in processing FOIA
requests have attended FOIA training offered by the Department of Justice
and have shared this information with colleagues informally on the job and
during staff meetings. Internal review and release guidelines are modified
through policy changes discussed and approved by the Agency Release Panel.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has worked diligently to release
information to the public that no longer requires protection, including
discretionary releases not mandated under FOIA.
Under the CIA's Historical Review Program, several discretionary collections
on historically significant topics were released to the public in FY10. These
collections included the "Strategic Warning and the Role of Intelligence:
Lessons Learned from the 1968 Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia" released
in April, 2010 and "Baptism by Fire: CIA Analysis of the Korean War" in
July, 2010. The CIA Historical Review Program selects projects based on
number of criteria including historical significance and public interest.
2. Report whether your Agency shows an increase in the number of
requests where records have been released in full or where records
have been released in part when compared with those numbers in
previous year's Annual FOIA Report.
In FY10, the CIA responded to 443 requests in full and 864 requests in part as
compared to FY09 when 363 requests were released in full and 918 requests
were released in part. The data show that more requestors received
documents that were released in full or in part in FY10 in comparison to 2009.
 II. Steps Taken to Ensure that Your Agency has an Effective System for
Responding to Requests
Describe here the steps your agency has taken to ensure that the
system for responding to requests is effective and efficient.
This section should include a discussion of how your agency has
addressed the key roles played by the broad spectrum of agency
personnel who work with FOIA professional in responding to
requests, including, in particular, steps taken to ensure that FOIA
professionals have sufficient IT support.
a. Do FOIA professionals within your agency have sufficient IT
support? The FOIA program office involves IT support in every aspect of
the FOIA/PA process and has partnered with it to further advance the
common goal to use technology to improve responsiveness. IT support
personnel are located within close proximity of the FOIA program office,
fostering greater interaction and support, and are proactive in their trouble-
shooting efforts and looking ahead for system enhancements.
b. Describe how your agency's FOIA professionals interact with your
Open Government team. Our FOIA professionals interact almost daily
with our Open Government Team since there is a significant overlap in
staffing for the two functions.
c. Describe the steps your agency has taken to assess whether adequate
staffing is being diverted to responding to FOIA requests. Currently,
the organizational element that contains the FOIA program is undergoing
a zero-based review of positions and workflow in order to realign
personnel to improve efficiency and productivity.
d. Describe the other steps your agency has undertaken to ensure that
your FOIA system operates efficiently and effectively. Currently, the
organizational element that contains the FOIA program is collaborating
with other partners and stakeholders to discuss possible efficiency gains.
HI. Steps Taken to Increase Proactive Disclosures
Describe here the steps your agency has taken to increase the amount
of material that is available on your agency website, including
providing examples of proactive disclosures that have been made
since the issuance of the new FOIA guidelines.
a. Has your agency added new material to your agency website
since last year? The CIA adds material to its e-FOIA reading
room throughout the year.
b. What type of records have been posted? In addition to posting
some documents from closed FOIA cases, the electronic FOIA
Reading Room website also hosts documents released through
the discretionary Historical Review Program (see Section I above
 for details). Web site statistics show that many visitors to the
CIA FOIA Reading Room website are most interested in these
historically significant document releases.
c. Give examples of the types of records that your agency now
posts that used to be available only by making a FOIA
request for them. Many of the documents in the E-FOIA
reading room are good examples of collections that would have
previously been available only through FOIA requests. We also
post our annual FOIA and Open Government reports on the
website. We strive to make as much information available as
possible through our website.
d. What system do you have in place to routinely identify
records that are appropriate for posting? We have statistical
reports that summarize which released documents are candidates
for the eFOIA reading room.
e. How do you utilize social media in disseminating
information? We use the very popular CIA website for
dissemination of released FOIA documents to the public. At this
time, we do not utilize other social media venues.
f. Describe any other steps taken to increase proactive
disclosures at your agency. Recently, we were able to add
videos to the CIA public website.
IV. Steps Taken to Greater Utilize Technology
1. Electronic receipt of FOIA requests
a. What proportion of components within your agency that
receive FOIA requests have the capability to receive such
requests electronically? None.
b. To what extent have you increased the number of
components doing so since the filing of your last Chief FOIA
Officer Report? We currently do not receive requests
electronically.
c. What methods does your agency use to receive requests
electronically? Not applicable.
2. Electronic tracking of FOIA requests:
a. What proportion of components within your agency that
receive FOIA requests have the capability to track such
requests electronically? 100 percent.
b. To what extent have you increased the number of
components doing so since the filing of your last Chief FOIA
Officer Report? All requests were tracked electronically last
year as well.
c. What methods does your agency use to track requests
electronically? In FY08, we replaced an outdated case
management system with a new-- more efficient--system
compatible with modem technology platforms. We continue to
 assess and modify the current system in order to make it as
efficient and effective as possible. We also automated the
capturing, forwarding, and tracking of requestor phone calls to
our public FOIA phone number in order to respond to these
requests effectively and efficiently.
3. Electronic tracking of FOIA requests:
a. What proportion of components within your agency that
receive FOIA requests have the capability to process such
requests electronically? 100 percent.
b. To what extent have you increased the number of
components doing so since the filing of your last Chief FOIA
Officer Report? All requests were processed electronically last
year as well.
c. What methods does your agency use to process requests
electronically? In FY08, we replaced an outdated case
management system with a new-- more efficient--system
compatible with modem technology platforms. We continue to
assess and modify the current system in order to make it as
efficient and effective as possible. We also automated the
capturing, forwarding, and tracking of requestor phone calls to
our public FOIA phone number in order to respond to these
requests effectively and efficiently.
4. Electronic Preparation of your Annual FOIA report:
a. What type of technology does your agency use to prepare
your Agency Annual FOIA report? We use data produced by
our automated case management system. This data is then
entered into the templates provided by the Department of Justice.
The system is not FOIA specific.
b. If you are not satisfied with your existing system to prepare
your Annual FOIA Report, describe the steps you have taken
to increase your use of technology for next year. Not
applicable.
V. Steps Taken to Reduce Backlogs and Improve Timeliness in Responding
to Requests
1. If you have a backlog, report whether your backlog is decreasing.
That reduction should be measured in two ways. First, report whether
the number of backlogged requests and backlogged administrative
appeals that remain pending at the end of the fiscal year decreased or
increased, and by how many, when compared with last fiscal year.
Second, report whether your agency closed in Fiscal Year 2010 the ten
oldest of those pending requests and appeals from Fiscal Year 2009, and
if not, report how many your agency did close.
 As reported in the FOIA Annual Reports, CIA's backlog increased -- from
592 cases in FY09 to 715 in FY10 for initial requests and from 183 in FY09 to
220 for FY10 for appeals. We attribute the increase in the backlog as the
effect of escalating and competing requirements on finite and limited
resources. That said, however, we closed the four oldest pending FOIA cases
and the three oldest appeals cases. In addition to the oldest FOIA cases, we
reduced the backlog of 2007 and earlier cases from 230 to 183-almost a 23
percent reduction!
2. If there has not been a reduction in the backlog as measured by either
of these metrics, describe why that has occurred. In doing so, answer
the following questions and then include any additional explanation.
a. Is the backlog increase a result of an increase in the number
of incoming requests and appeals? Yes.
b. Is the backlog increase caused by a loss of staff? No.
c. Is the backlog increase caused by an increase in the
complexity of the requests received? Yes.
d. What other causes, if any, contributed to the increase in
backlog? An increase in FOIA and non-FOIA litigations
decreased staff resources for reviewing the documents.
3. Describe the steps that your agency is taking to reduce any backlogs
and to improve the timeliness in responding to requests and to
administrative appeals. In doing so, answer the following questions
and then also include any other steps being taken to improve
timeliness.
a. Does your agency routinely set goals and monitor the
progress of your FOIA caseload? Yes.
b. Has your agency increased its FOIA Staffing? No.
c. Has you agency made IT improvements to increase
timeliness? Yes.
d. Has your Chief FOIA officer been involved in overseeing
your agency's capacity to process requests? Yes.
Out of all of the activities undertaken by your agency in the last year
to increase transparency, describe here one success story that you would
like to highlight as emblematic of your efforts.
Focus on Customer Service: Certain types of requests lead to
inevitable delays given their complexity. During FY10, FOIA case managers
were encouraged to call requesters directly to rescope requests so that
processing times would be faster and the requester would be more satisfied
 with the results. Case managers also called and spoke to requesters who made
multiple requests for the same records which fall outside Agency purview. In
one case, a member of the FOIA staff contacted the requester to ascertain
what other agencies he submitted requests to and then made some additional
suggestions regarding agencies that might have the records he sought. He was
very grateful for our assistance.