Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Annual Report
Fiscal Year 2005
American Battle Monuments Commission
I. Basic Information Regarding Report
1. Name, title, address, and telephone number of person(s) to contact with questions about the report.
Martha Sell
American Battle Monuments Commission
Courthouse Plaza II, Ste 500
2300 Clarendon Blvd.
Arlington, Virginia 22201
Telephone: 703-696-6897
Michael G. Conley
American Battle Monuments Commission
Courthouse Plaza II, Ste 500
2300 Clarendon Blvd.
Arlington, Virginia 22201
Telephone: 703-696-6778
2. Electronic address for report on the World Wide Web.
www.abmc.gov
3. How to obtain a copy of the report in paper form.
Contact Ms. Sell or Mr. Conley at the address or telephone numbers listed above.
II. How to Make a FOIA Request
A. Names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all individual agency components and offices that receive FOIA requests.
Martha R. Sell
American Battle Monuments Commission
Courthouse Plaza II, Ste 500
2300 Clarendon Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22201
Michael G. Conley
American Battle Monuments Commission
Courthouse Plaza II, Ste 500
2300 Clarendon Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22201
Theodore Gloukhoff
American Battle Monuments Commission
Courthouse Plaza II, Ste 500
2300 Clarendon Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22201
B. Brief description of the agency’s response-time ranges.
Average processing time in FY 2005 was 10 days.
C. Brief description of why some requests are not granted.
N/A – there was no denial of records during FY 05.
III. Definition of Terms and Acronyms Used in the Report
A. Agency-specific acronyms or other terms.
None
B. Basic terms, expressed in common terminology.
1. FOIA/PA Request – Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act request. A FOIA request is generally a request for access to records concerning a third party, an organization, or a particular topic of interest. A Privacy Act request is a request for records concerning oneself; such requests are also treated as FOIA requests. (All requests for access to records, regardless of which law is cited by the requester, are included in this report.)
2. Initial Request – a request to a federal agency for access to records under the Freedom of Information Act.
3. Appeal – a request to a federal agency asking that it review at a higher administrative level a full denial or partial denial of access to records under the Freedom of Information Act, or any other FOIA determination such as a matter pertaining to fees.
4. Processed Request or Appeal – a request or appeal for which an agency has taken a final action on the request or the appeal in all respects.
5. Multi-track processing – a system in which simple requests requiring relatively minimal review are placed in one processing track and more voluminous and complex requests are placed in one or more other tracks. Requests in each track are processed on a first-in/first-out basis. A requester who has an urgent need for records may request expedited processing (see below).
6. Expedited processing – an agency will process a FOIA request on an expedited basis when a requester has shown an exceptional need or urgency for the records which warrants prioritization of his or her request over other requests that were made earlier.
7. Simple request – a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing places in its fastest (non-expedited) track based on the volume and/or simplicity of records requested.
8. Complex request – a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing places in a slower track based on the volume and/or complexity of records requested.
9. Grant – an agency decision to disclose all records in full in response to a FOIA request.
10. Partial grant – an agency decision to disclose a record in part in response to a FOIA request, deleting information determined to be exempt under one or more of the FOIA’s exemptions; or a decision to disclose some records in their entireties, but to withhold others in whole or in part.
11. Denial – an agency decision not to release any part of a record or records in response to a FOIA request because all the information in the requested records is determined by the agency to be exempt under one or more of the FOIA’s exemptions, or for some procedural reason (such as because no record is located in response to a FOIA request).
12. Time limits – the time period in the Freedom of Information Act for an agency to respond to a FOIA request (ordinarily 20 working days from proper receipt of a “perfected” FOIA request).
13. “Perfected” request – a FOIA request for records which adequately describes the records sought, which has been received by the FOIA office of the agency or agency component in possession of the records, and for which there is no remaining question about the payment of applicable fees.
14. Exemption 3 statue – a separate federal statue prohibiting the disclosure of a certain type of information and authorizing its withholding under FOIA subsection (b) (3).
15. Median number – the middle, not average, number. For example, of 3, 7, and 14, the median number is 7.
16. Average number – the number obtained by dividing the sum of a group of numbers by the quantity of numbers in the group. For example, of 3, 7, and 14, the average number is 8.
IV. Exemption 3 Statutes
A. List of Exemption 3 statutes relied on by agency during current fiscal year.
1. Brief description of type(s) of information withheld under each statute.
No Exemption 3 statutes were used as a basis for denying information in FY 05.
2. Statement of whether a court has upheld the use of each statute. If so, then cite example.
N/A
V. Initial FOIA/PA Access Reports
A. Number of initial requests.
1. Number of requests pending as of end of preceding fiscal year: ___0___
2. Number of requests received during current fiscal year: ___7___
3. Number of requests processed during current fiscal year: ___7___
4. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year: ___0___
B. Disposition of initial requests.
1. Number of total grants: ___7___
2. Number of partial grants: ___0___
3. Number of denials: ___0___
C. Number of times each FOIA exemption used (counting each exemption once per request).
(1) Exemption 1: ____0____
(2) Exemption 2: ____0____
(3) Exemption 3: ____0____
(4) Exemption 4: ____0____
(5) Exemption 5: ____0____
(6) Exemption 6: ____0____
(7) Exemption 7(A): ____0____
(8) Exemption 7(B): ____0_____
(9) Exemption 7(C): _____0____
(10) Exemption 7(D): ____0____
(11) Exemption 7(E): ____0____
(12) Exemption 7(F): ____0____
(13) Exemption 8: _____0_____
(14) Exemption 9: _____0_____
4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total): ___0___
a. no records: ____0____
b. referrals: _____0_____
c. request withdrawn: ____0____
d. fee-related reason: ____0____
e. records not reasonably described: ____0____
f. not a proper request for some other reasons: ____0____
g. not an agency record: ____0____
h. duplicate request: ____0____
i. other (specify): ____0____
VI: Appeals of Initial Denials of FOIA/PA Requests
A. Number of appeals.
1. Number of appeals received during fiscal year: ____0____
2. Number of appeals processed during fiscal year: ____0____
B. Disposition of appeals.
1. Number completely upheld: ____n/a____
2. Number partially reversed: ____n/a_____
3. Number completely reversed: ____n/a____
C. Number of times each FOIA exemption used (counting each exemption once per appeal).
(1) Exemption 1: ____0____
(2) Exemption 2: ____0____
(3) Exemption 3: ____0_____
(4) Exemption 4: ____0_____
(5) Exemption 5: ____0_____
(6) Exemption 6: _____0_____
(7) Exemption 7(A): ____0____
(8) Exemption 7(B): ____0____
(9) Exemption 7(C): ____0_____
(10) Exemption 7(D): ____0____
(11) Exemption 7(E): ____0_____
(12) Exemption 7(F): _____0_____
(13) Exemption 8: ____0_____
(14) Exemption 9: ____0_____
4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total): ____0____
a. no records: ____0____
b. referrals: ____0____
c. request withdrawn: ____0____
d. fee-related reasons: ____0____
e. records not reasonably described: ____0____
f. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason: ____0____
g. not an agency record: _____0____
h. duplicate request: ____0_____
i. other (specify): ____0____
VII. Compliance with Time Limits/Status of Pending Requests.
A. Median processing time for requests processed during the year.
1. Simple requests (if multiple tracks used).
a. number of requests: ____7____
b. median number of days to process: ____10 ____
2. Complex request (specify for any and all tracks used).
a. number of requests processed: ____0____
b. median numbers of days to process: ____N/A____
3. Requests accorded expedited processing.
a. number of requests processed: ____0____
b. median number of days to process: ____0____
B. Status of pending requests.
1. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year: ____0____
2. Median number of days that such requests were pending as of that date: ___N/A___
VIII. Expedited processing.
A. Number of requests accorded expedited processing.
1. Number received: ____0____
2. Number granted: ____0____
IX. Costs/FOIA Staffing.
1. Number of full-time FOIA personnel: ____0____
2. Number of personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties (in total work-years):
__Unknown: not calculated separately by agency___
3, Total number of personnel (in work years):
__Unknown: not calculated separately by Agency___
A. Total costs (including staff and all resources).
1. FOIA processing (including appeals):
__Unknown: not separately calculated by agency___
2. Litigation-relation activities (estimated): ____n/a____
3. Total costs: __ Unknown: not separately calculated by agency____
4. (Optional) Comparison with previous year(s) (including percentage of change):
___Unknown: not separately calculated by agency____
5. (Optional) Statement of additional resources needed for FOIA compliance: __n/a __
X: Fees
A. Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests: __$78.00___
B. Percentage of total costs: ____ Unknown: not separately calculated by agency___
XI: FOIA Regulations (Including Fee Schedule)
Commission regulations appear at CFR 36 Part 404 and at http://www.abmc.gov