Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, B-289209, January 3, 2002
Highlights
The purpose of our letter was to establish whether your Office still maintains the position taken in a March 2. Your reply confirming that position will be useful as we proceed with the issues before us. You stated in your letter that your Office is "unable to provide these documents. As they are privileged attorney-client communications and deliberative documents of the Coast Guard.". The basic access authority is established in 31 U.S.C. GAO is also authorized to inspect an agency's records to secure the required information. GAO has a statutory right to access predecisional and deliberative documents unless the President or the Director of the Office of Management and Budget certifies that certain standards are met. 31 U.S.C.
Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, B-289209, January 3, 2002
Rear Admiral R. F. Duncan Chief Counsel United States Coast Guard 2100 2nd Street, S.W. Washington, DC 20593-0001
Dear Admiral Duncan:
Thank you for your reply to our letter inquiring about the availability of the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund under 33 U.S.C. Sec. 2712. The purpose of our letter was to establish whether your Office still maintains the position taken in a March 2, 1998 memorandum of the Commandant. Your reply confirming that position will be useful as we proceed with the issues before us.
I do, however, want to clarify GAO's access authority for you. In response to our request for copies of any memoranda, opinions, and letters of the Chief Counsel or the Office of the Chief Counsel since 1998 regarding the availability of the Trust Fund, you stated in your letter that your Office is "unable to provide these documents, as they are privileged attorney-client communications and deliberative documents of the Coast Guard."
The Congress has given GAO broad statutory rights of access to a wide range of federal agency documents. The basic access authority is established in 31 U.S.C. Sec. 716(a), which requires each agency to give GAO "information the Comptroller General requires about the duties, powers, activities, organization, and financial transactions of the agency." GAO is also authorized to inspect an agency's records to secure the required information. This authority includes access to inter- and intraagency memoranda and electronic files, as well as sensitive information, including classified, business-confidential or proprietary data. While the Freedom of Information Act, the Trade Secrets Act, and other statutes may generally protect certain categories of information from disclosure by an agency to the public, this protection does not justify withholding the information from GAO. GAO has a statutory right to access predecisional and deliberative documents unless the President or the Director of the Office of Management and Budget certifies that certain standards are met. 31 U.S.C. Sec. 716(d)(1)(C).
Since your letter confirms that your Office continues to maintain the position taken in the 1998 memorandum, we have no need at this time to receive copies of the memoranda, opinions, and letters that we asked for in our October 24, 2001 letter to you. Our purpose in requesting those copies was to help us establish your Office's current position and understand the rationale for it, as well as any modifications or distinctions that your Office might have made to it since 1998. Based on the confirmation in your reply, we will proceed with our analysis of the availability of the Trust Fund under 31 U.S.C. Sec. 2712 in the context of the legal rationale presented in the 1998 memorandum.
We appreciate the time your staff devoted to developing the information provided in your letter. We will advise you if we need further information.
Sincerely,
Thomas H. Armstrong Assistant General Counsel