And lol, if you think this admin is gonna prioritize transparency or FOIA staffing, you are delusional. There are several agencies that have already RIF’d the components responsible for this work. They do not GAF. There are also issues with the proposed solution to offer online courses in FOIA. While a nice idea, FOIA duties are usually just one of many hats that folks wear. Agencies don’t want to hire someone who can “only” do FOIA. At a minimum, they also want the person who can litigate FOIA challenges on behalf of the agency, and they likely also want someone who can do IP law, or personnel law, or some other specialty that can provide value to the agency.
Even with the best software, Agency procedures typically require an actual human to read all responsive documents. Software is good for redactions of “proper nouns” and the like, but it isn’t sophisticated enough to make redactions pursuant to the “privileged communications” exemption for deliberative/pre-decisional communications and attorney-client privilege.
Need to fire the slow pokes. Get someone in there capable of doing the job.
Is it Time to show up in person to get the records?
And lol, if you think this admin is gonna prioritize transparency or FOIA staffing, you are delusional. There are several agencies that have already RIF’d the components responsible for this work. They do not GAF. There are also issues with the proposed solution to offer online courses in FOIA. While a nice idea, FOIA duties are usually just one of many hats that folks wear. Agencies don’t want to hire someone who can “only” do FOIA. At a minimum, they also want the person who can litigate FOIA challenges on behalf of the agency, and they likely also want someone who can do IP law, or personnel law, or some other specialty that can provide value to the agency.
Even with the best software, Agency procedures typically require an actual human to read all responsive documents. Software is good for redactions of “proper nouns” and the like, but it isn’t sophisticated enough to make redactions pursuant to the “privileged communications” exemption for deliberative/pre-decisional communications and attorney-client privilege.