Freedom of Information Act:
Agency Reading Rooms
GGD-89-84BR: Published: May 31, 1989. Publicly Released: Jul 6, 1989.
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Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO determined: (1) whether agencies maintained reading rooms to make Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) materials available for public inspection and copying; (2) how agencies notified the public of the existence of reading rooms; and (3) whether reading rooms contained material other than required FOIA documents.
GAO found that: (1) FOIA does not require agencies to provide public reading rooms; (2) 13 of the 15 agencies selected for review reported that a reading room was available, while 2 reported that FOIA documents were available occasionally or at various locations; (3) all 15 agencies published FOIA implementation regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR); (4) 12 of the 13 agencies with reading rooms provided varying amounts of information about their reading rooms in CFR; and (5) some reading rooms contained only required FOIA documents, while others contained additional materials.
Oct 8, 2020
Open Data:
Agencies Need Guidance to Establish Comprehensive Data Inventories; Information on Their Progress is LimitedGAO-21-29: Published: Oct 8, 2020. Publicly Released: Oct 8, 2020.
Jul 16, 2020
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Coast Guard:
Actions Needed to Ensure Investments in Key Data System Meet Mission and User NeedsGAO-20-562: Published: Jul 16, 2020. Publicly Released: Jul 16, 2020.
Mar 30, 2020
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Information Management:
Selected Agencies Need to Fully Address Federal Electronic Recordkeeping RequirementsGAO-20-59: Published: Feb 27, 2020. Publicly Released: Mar 30, 2020.
Mar 16, 2020
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Freedom of Information Act:
Federal Agencies' Recent Implementation EffortsGAO-20-406R: Published: Mar 11, 2020. Publicly Released: Mar 16, 2020.
Dec 16, 2019
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Assessing Data Reliability (Supersedes GAO-09-680G)GAO-20-283G: Published: Dec 16, 2019. Publicly Released: Dec 16, 2019.
Oct 17, 2019
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Freedom of Information Act:
DHS Needs to Reduce Backlogged Requests and Eliminate Duplicate ProcessingGAO-20-209T: Published: Oct 17, 2019. Publicly Released: Oct 17, 2019.
Aug 10, 2018
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Paperwork Reduction Act:
Agencies Could Better Leverage Review Processes and Public Outreach to Improve Burden EstimatesGAO-18-381: Published: Jul 11, 2018. Publicly Released: Aug 10, 2018.
Jun 25, 2018
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Freedom of Information Act:
Agencies Are Implementing Requirements but Additional Actions Are NeededGAO-18-365: Published: Jun 25, 2018. Publicly Released: Jun 25, 2018.
Mar 13, 2018
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Freedom of Information Act:
Agencies Are Implementing Requirements but Need to Take Additional ActionsGAO-18-452T: Published: Mar 13, 2018. Publicly Released: Mar 13, 2018. -
Freedom of Information Act:
Federal Court Decisions Have Not Required the Office of Special Counsel to Initiate Disciplinary Actions for the Improper Withholding of RecordsGAO-18-235R: Published: Mar 13, 2018. Publicly Released: Mar 13, 2018.
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