Summary of Fiscal Year 2016 Annual FOIA Reports Published

Today, the Office of Information Policy (OIP) released its government-wide summary of agencies’ Annual Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Reports. This comprehensive picture into the government’s FOIA activities during the previous fiscal year looks at key statistics in FOIA administration and identifies trends in FOIA processing by comparing data from prior years.

"The FOIA is used by hundreds of thousands of requesters every year as an important tool for accessing government information,” said Director Melanie Pustay of the Office of Information Policy. “As demand continues to increase, the Annual FOIA Report provides the public a wealth of detailed information about agencies’ handling of these requests."

The government overall continued to face high numbers of incoming FOIA Requests during fiscal year 2016, receiving a record high of nearly 800,000 requests. Agencies responded by processing over 750,000 requests for the second consecutive year. As in prior years, the most cited FOIA exemptions were for the protection of personal privacy (Exemptions 6 and 7(C)). The top four agencies that received and processed the most requests as part of these efforts were the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, and Defense, and the National Archives and Records Administration.

OIP’s Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for FY 2016 is available on our Reports page where it can be compared with previous summaries dating back to FY 2006. As announced on March 16, all agencies subject to the FOIA finalized their Fiscal Year 2016 Annual FOIA Reports and this data can easily be viewed, compared, and analyzed on FOIA.gov.