FOIA -"Transparency" not so

A review of nearly 100 federal agencies and departments found that most had not updated their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulations and processes to comply with either Obama's presidential promise or a 2007 law.
  The latest study of FOIA compliance by a public advocacy group (National Security Archive) found that 62 (of 99) federal organizations have complied with Obama's 2009 presidential  promise (as set out in a Justice Department memo).  In addition, 56 of the federal bodies had failed to comply with the "OPEN Government Act of 2007."  One, the Federal Trade Commission, has not updated its FOIA compliance regulations since 1975.  The advocacy group blamed the failure by both the White House and Congress "to find a way to compel recalcitrant agencies to comply with FOIA,"

  Regrettably, this is part of a federal trend of failing to comply with either the letter or the spirit of laws deemed "inconvenient." And just as troubling is the general failure of news organizations to notice or care (unless its their FOIA request at stake).

Source -  Survey finds most agencies ignore FOIA update orders,  Washington Examiner

Opaque Transparency at the FCC

During a recent Congressional hearing, it was noted that - according to publicly available information on the official FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) website (FOIA.gov) - the FCC had denied 48% of recent FOIA requests.  In comparison, both the CIA and National Security Agency denied less than 1% of requests, and the average for the rest of the government was a 7.3% denial rate.
  Unsurprisingly, an FCC spokesman claimed that "the FCC is a government leader in transparency, including under the Freedom of Information Act."  Interestingly, the spokesman did not indicate in which direction the FCC was leading.  The spokesman added that only 3% of "complete, with fees paid" FOIA requests were denied.
  Here's a teaching moment for journalists - when official sources give you wildly different numbers, look carefully at how those results are defined.  The FCC spokesman limited his count to "complete" requests whose fees were fully paid.  As for the FOIA.gov information, they counted all requests - including those rejected as incomplete, having errors, unable to pay fees and charges, or what seemed to be the FCC's favorite excuse, where the information requested was "not reasonably described," a nebulous standard at the best of times.  In 2010, the FCC rejected over 16% of all FOIA requests as seeking records that were "not reasonably described."
  The FCC spokesman also noted that the FCC had gotten an A from one oversight committee for it's "FOIA record-keeping;" not it's responsiveness or its transparency, but it's records. When asked about the FCC's response to FOIA and Congressional inquiries, one Senator replied, "The FCC gets an ‘F’ for its handling of requests from 99.6 percent of members of Congress."  And it's that wider perception that is keeping the Senate from acting on pending nominations to the Commission.

Sources - FOIA data suggests FCC more secretive than CIA,  The Daily Caller
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