A Peek Inside the State Department’s FOIA Procedures.

When a journalist or citizen appeals a FOIA request that has been denied by the State Department, the case goes to a three-member panel that draws from a rotating group of retired ambassadors.

The State Department uses retired Foreign Service officers to help determine what internal documents and memos can be released for Freedom of Information Act requests, according to a new watchdog report that gives a peek into how the department handles FOIA issues.

The department is notorious among journalists for its slow responses to FOIA requests. Earlier this month, the Center for Public Integrity received a response to a FOIA request it submitted 10 years ago to the State Department.

State had 138 full-time employees devoted to FOIA in 2009, the department inspector general said in the report. After initial reviewers of a FOIA request locate information to released, retired Foreign Service officers carry out a “two-tiered, often line-by-line review” to spot sensitive information that should be reconsidered, the report said. “The reviewers consult regularly with bureaus and offices on current sensitivities that may affect redaction decisions, but elements requesting redactions bear the burden of showing the necessity of those redactions while reviewers assume final authority over the outcome of their reviews,” it added.

Link: http://www.publicintegrity.org/daily_watchdog/entry/2561/