THE INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION ACT OF 1983 - FOIA RESPONSIVENESS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP92B01283R000100060011-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 20, 2013
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: June 17, 1984
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2613/68/20 : CiA-IRDP92B01283R000100060011-8
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Chief, Information and Privacy Divislor
17 'January 1984
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The attached deals with the
responsiveness aspect of the FOIA
legislative initiative now before
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a I maul is.0 LI kJ JU V M
1? JAN 1984
MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director of Information Services
Director of Information Services
STAT FROM:
STAT
Chief, Information and Privacy Division
SUBJECT: The Intelligence Information Act of 1983 - FOIA
Responsiveness
1. As you are aware, the proposed legislation passed by
the Senate and soon to be considered by the House of
Representatives, is intended to provide the Agency with partial
relief from searching certain operational files in response to
FOIA requests. The passage of this legislation will carry with
it the responsibility to be more responsive in our handling of
FOIA requests. This translates to responding to requests for
information in terms of weeks and months as a general rule
rather than in terms of two or three years, as quite often
occurs today. While our backlog of cases will be reduced by
about 300 requests in the DO with passage of the bill, we will
still need to coordinate material within and among Agency
components as we do today. A very time consuming and critical
element of our FOIA processing criteria.
2. The Agency has agreed to maintain the present level of
resources devoted to FOIA/PA/EO processes for a two year period
effective with passage of the bill. In fact, if we are to
focus primary attention on elimination of the queue we may need
more resources in the short term (during the first 6 to 12
months after passage).
3. In order to come up with a plan whereby the Agency can
be more responsive to FOIA/PA/EO requests, I have attached a
draft copy of a number of action items which we have begun to
discuss with directorate Information Review Officers. While I
believe we can be more responsive after passage of the bill,
there is a price to pay in the way of more resource commitments
in the short term. We may also be expected to report to
Congress at approximately quarterly intervals on the results of
our efforts. Should we experience a sizable increase in
FOIA/PA/EO requests as a result of the bill it is questionable
as to what degree, if any, we can achieve a marked improvement
in our responses to the public.
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ACTIONS FOCUSED TO IMPROVE RESPONSIVENESS
DDO
If the Bill were passed today the Directorate of Operations (DO)
estimates that some 300 FOIA cases will be deleted from their
backlog of about 1,400 requests. These requests are seeking
information that can only be located in DO operational files that
will be considered exempt from search and review under the proposed
legislation. This action is expected to result in the more timely
review of documents referred to the DO by other Agencies and
components within CIA. The time consuming and tedious process of
the search for and review of DO documents will no longer slow the
work on referral documents sent to the DO for review.
The DO expects that by maintaining the existing resource levels
that the backlog can be reduced significantly or eliminated in their
area within 13 months after passage of the bill. This assumes also,
the same level of FOIA requests will continue to come from the
public.
The DO does not contemplate any major changes to their
FOIA/PA/EO processes resulting from passage of the bill.
DDI
The Information Review Officer for the Directorate of
Intelligence (DI) has indicated that increased resources would
contribute to improved responsiveness in the DI. Specific needs are
outlined below:
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Office of the DI/IRO
One additional full or part time (minimum of 30 hrs/pay
period) professional employee with considerable experience in a
DI production office, to assist the DI/IRO. With additional
experienced help, a larger number of requests involving DI
originated documents could be completely processed in the Office
of the DI/IRO and would not have to be sent to one or more DI
components for review. As cited on previous occasions, the
review of relevant material in DI components is what causes the
major delay in getting requests completed in a timely manner.
While the addition of another person would allow the DI/IRO to
process more requests than is currently possible, it would still
be necessary to forward the majority of the requests involving
DI originated documents
of the need for experts
classified intelligence
to the appropriate DI components because
to determine the releasability of
products.
Office of Central Reference
Within the DI, all requests involving a search for
documents are levied on the Office of Central Reference (OCR).
The formulation of the search
computer printout of possibly
completed
documents
in a few days. The
in the OCR Document
strategy and the production of the
relevant documents is usually
search for the possibly relevant
Library and producing the hard
copies can take considerable time depending on the number of ?
documents involved and whether the references are located in
Headquarters or at the Records Center. Naturally, priority is
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given to jobs in support of requests originated by Agency
analysts in connection with production or operational tasks. It
is estimated that on the average, the Document Library spends
six working days completing this phase of FOIA processing. If
two or three clerical employees were added to the Document
Library to handle FOIA requests, the number of days needed to
pull and reproduce FOIA related documents could be significantly
reduced.
IPD
The Information and Privacy Division will continue to review
FOIA requests to determine which can be completed promptly by
providing previously released material from the DECAL system. Also
responses to the public that reflect no responsive documents were
located will be handled in a prompt, efficient manner as information
is made available to IPD by the various Agency components. A final
response can be made only after all components tasked have responded.
We estimate that a combination of as many as five professional
and clerical employees will be needed in IPD to keep pace with the
efforts by components as they focus on backlog reduction efforts.
Also, we are looking at the possibility of hiring independent
contractors (reemployed annuitants) to work on large and complex
"project type" requests. Our current cadre of case officers will
then be afforded more time to deal with new requests and finalize
cases from components.
In addition, IPD is constantly striving to pursue better methods
to automate and streamline their internal work flow process.
Greater use of form letters in repetitive responses aimed at
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reducing the burden on typing services is now under consideration.
Also, greater use of word processing and computer facilities is
planned to ensure an improved flow of referral and coordination
documentation.
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