[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 50 (Monday, December 19, 2005)]
[Pages 1860-1864]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Executive Order 13392--Improving Agency Disclosure of Information

December 14, 2005

    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and 
the laws of the United States of America, and to ensure appropriate 
agency disclosure of information,

[[Page 1861]]

and consistent with the goals of section 552 of title 5, United States 
Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:
    Section 1. Policy.
    (a) The effective functioning of our constitutional democracy 
depends upon the participation in public life of a citizenry that is 
well informed. For nearly four decades, the Freedom of Information Act 
(FOIA) has provided an important means through which the public can 
obtain information regarding the activities of Federal agencies. Under 
the FOIA, the public can obtain records from any Federal agency, subject 
to the exemptions enacted by the Congress to protect information that 
must be held in confidence for the Government to function effectively or 
for other purposes.
    (b) FOIA requesters are seeking a service from the Federal 
Government and should be treated as such. Accordingly, in responding to 
a FOIA request, agencies shall respond courteously and appropriately. 
Moreover, agencies shall provide FOIA requesters, and the public in 
general, with citizen-centered ways to learn about the FOIA process, 
about agency records that are publicly available (e.g., on the agency's 
website), and about the status of a person's FOIA request and 
appropriate information about the agency's response.
    (c) Agency FOIA operations shall be both results-oriented and 
produce results. Accordingly, agencies shall process requests under the 
FOIA in an efficient and appropriate manner and achieve tangible, 
measurable improvements in FOIA processing. When an agency's FOIA 
program does not produce such results, it should be reformed, consistent 
with available resources appropriated by the Congress and applicable 
law, to increase efficiency and better reflect the policy goals and 
objectives of this order.
    (d) A citizen-centered and results-oriented approach will improve 
service and performance, thereby strengthening compliance with the FOIA, 
and will help avoid disputes and related litigation.
    Sec. 2. Agency Chief FOIA Officers.
    (a) Designation. The head of each agency shall designate within 30 
days of the date of this order a senior official of such agency (at the 
Assistant Secretary or equivalent level), to serve as the Chief FOIA 
Officer of that agency. The head of the agency shall promptly notify the 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB Director) and the 
Attorney General of such designation and of any changes thereafter in 
such designation.
    (b) General Duties. The Chief FOIA Officer of each agency shall, 
subject to the authority of the head of the agency:
      (i) have agency-wide responsibility for efficient and appropriate 
      compliance with the FOIA;
      (ii) monitor FOIA implementation throughout the agency, including 
      through the use of meetings with the public to the extent deemed 
      appropriate by the agency's Chief FOIA Officer, and keep the head 
      of the agency, the chief legal officer of the agency, and the 
      Attorney General appropriately informed of the agency's 
      performance in implementing the FOIA, including the extent to 
      which the agency meets the milestones in the agency's plan under 
      section 3(b) of this order and training and reporting standards 
      established consistent with applicable law and this order;
      (iii) recommend to the head of the agency such adjustments to 
      agency practices, policies, personnel, and funding as may be 
      necessary to carry out the policy set forth in section 1 of this 
      order;
      (iv) review and report, through the head of the agency, at such 
      times and in such formats as the Attorney General may direct, on 
      the agency's performance in implementing the FOIA; and
      (v) facilitate public understanding of the purposes of the FOIA's 
      statutory exemptions by including concise descriptions of the 
      exemptions in both the agency's FOIA handbook issued under section 
      552(g) of title 5, United States Code, and the agency's annual 
      FOIA report, and by providing an overview, where appropriate, of 
      certain general categories of agency records to which those 
      exemptions apply.
    (c) FOIA Requester Service Center and FOIA Public Liaisons. In order 
to ensure appropriate communication with FOIA requesters:

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      (i) Each agency shall establish one or more FOIA Requester Service 
      Centers (Center), as appropriate, which shall serve as the first 
      place that a FOIA requester can contact to seek information 
      concerning the status of the person's FOIA request and appropriate 
      information about the agency's FOIA response. The Center shall 
      include appropriate staff to receive and respond to inquiries from 
      FOIA requesters;
      (ii) The agency Chief FOIA Officer shall designate one or more 
      agency officials, as appropriate, as FOIA Public Liaisons, who may 
      serve in the Center or who may serve in a separate office. FOIA 
      Public Liaisons shall serve as supervisory officials to whom a 
      FOIA requester can raise concerns about the service the FOIA 
      requester has received from the Center, following an initial 
      response from the Center staff. FOIA Public Liaisons shall seek to 
      ensure a service-oriented response to FOIA requests and FOIA-
      related inquiries. For example, the FOIA Public Liaison shall 
      assist, as appropriate, in reducing delays, increasing 
      transparency and understanding of the status of requests, and 
      resolving disputes. FOIA Public Liaisons shall report to the 
      agency Chief FOIA Officer on their activities and shall perform 
      their duties consistent with applicable law and agency 
      regulations;
      (iii) In addition to the services to FOIA requesters provided by 
      the Center and FOIA Public Liaisons, the agency Chief FOIA Officer 
      shall also consider what other FOIA-related assistance to the 
      public should appropriately be provided by the agency;
      (iv) In establishing the Centers and designating FOIA Public 
      Liaisons, the agency shall use, as appropriate, existing agency 
      staff and resources. A Center shall have appropriate staff to 
      receive and respond to inquiries from FOIA requesters;
      (v) As determined by the agency Chief FOIA Officer, in 
      consultation with the FOIA Public Liaisons, each agency shall post 
      appropriate information about its Center or Centers on the 
      agency's website, including contact information for its FOIA 
      Public Liaisons. In the case of an agency without a website, the 
      agency shall publish the information on the Firstgov.gov website 
      or, in the case of any agency with neither a website nor the 
      capability to post on the Firstgov.gov website, in the Federal 
      Register; and
      (vi) The agency Chief FOIA Officer shall ensure that the agency 
      has in place a method (or methods), including through the use of 
      the Center, to receive and respond promptly and appropriately to 
      inquiries from FOIA requesters about the status of their requests. 
      The Chief FOIA Officer shall also consider, in consultation with 
      the FOIA Public Liaisons, as appropriate, whether the agency's 
      implementation of other means (such as tracking numbers for 
      requests, or an agency telephone or Internet hotline) would be 
      appropriate for responding to status inquiries.
    Sec. 3. Review, Plan, and Report.
    (a) Review. Each agency's Chief FOIA Officer shall conduct a review 
of the agency's FOIA operations to determine whether agency practices 
are consistent with the policies set forth in section 1 of this order. 
In conducting this review, the Chief FOIA Officer shall:
      (i) evaluate, with reference to numerical and statistical 
      benchmarks where appropriate, the agency's administration of the 
      FOIA, including the agency's expenditure of resources on FOIA 
      compliance and the extent to which, if any, requests for records 
      have not been responded to within the statutory time limit 
      (backlog);
      (ii) review the processes and practices by which the agency 
      assists and informs the public regarding the FOIA process;
      (iii) examine the agency's:
        (A) use of information technology in responding to FOIA 
      requests, including without limitation the tracking of FOIA 
      requests and communication with requesters;
        (B) practices with respect to requests for expedited processing; 
      and

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        (C) implementation of multi-track processing if used by such 
      agency;
      (iv) review the agency's policies and practices relating to the 
      availability of public information through websites and other 
      means, including the use of websites to make available the records 
      described in section 552(a)(2) of title 5, United States Code; and
      (v) identify ways to eliminate or reduce its FOIA backlog, 
      consistent with available resources and taking into consideration 
      the volume and complexity of the FOIA requests pending with the 
      agency.
    (b) Plan.
      (i) Each agency's Chief FOIA Officer shall develop, in 
      consultation as appropriate with the staff of the agency 
      (including the FOIA Public Liaisons), the Attorney General, and 
      the OMB Director, an agency-specific plan to ensure that the 
      agency's administration of the FOIA is in accordance with 
      applicable law and the policies set forth in section 1 of this 
      order. The plan, which shall be submitted to the head of the 
      agency for approval, shall address the agency's implementation of 
      the FOIA during fiscal years 2006 and 2007.
      (ii) The plan shall include specific activities that the agency 
      will implement to eliminate or reduce the agency's FOIA backlog, 
      including (as applicable) changes that will make the processing of 
      FOIA requests more streamlined and effective, as well as increased 
      reliance on the dissemination of records that can be made 
      available to the public through a website or other means that do 
      not require the public to make a request for the records under the 
      FOIA.
      (iii) The plan shall also include activities to increase public 
      awareness of FOIA processing, including as appropriate, expanded 
      use of the agency's Center and its FOIA Public Liaisons.
      (iv) The plan shall also include, taking appropriate account of 
      the resources available to the agency and the mission of the 
      agency, concrete milestones, with specific timetables and outcomes 
      to be achieved, by which the head of the agency, after 
      consultation with the OMB Director, shall measure and evaluate the 
      agency's success in the implementation of the plan.
    (c) Agency Reports to the Attorney General and OMB Director.
      (i) The head of each agency shall submit a report, no later than 6 
      months from the date of this order, to the Attorney General and 
      the OMB Director that summarizes the results of the review under 
      section 3(a) of this order and encloses a copy of the agency's 
      plan under section 3(b) of this order. The agency shall publish a 
      copy of the agency's report on the agency's website or, in the 
      case of an agency without a website, on the Firstgov.gov website, 
      or, in the case of any agency with neither a website nor the 
      capability to publish on the Firstgov.gov website, in the Federal 
      Register.
      (ii) The head of each agency shall include in the agency's annual 
      FOIA reports for fiscal years 2006 and 2007 a report on the 
      agency's development and implementation of its plan under section 
      3(b) of this order and on the agency's performance in meeting the 
      milestones set forth in that plan, consistent with any related 
      guidelines the Attorney General may issue under section 552(e) of 
      title 5, United States Code.
      (iii) If the agency does not meet a milestone in its plan, the 
      head of the agency shall:
      (A) identify this deficiency in the annual FOIA report to the 
      Attorney General;
      (B) explain in the annual report the reasons for the agency's 
      failure to meet the milestone;
      (C) outline in the annual report the steps that the agency has 
      already taken, and will be taking, to address the deficiency; and
      (D) report this deficiency to the President's Management Council.
    Sec. 4. Attorney General.
    (a) Report. The Attorney General, using the reports submitted by the 
agencies under subsection 3(c)(i) of this order and the information 
submitted by agencies in their annual FOIA reports for fiscal year 2005, 
shall submit to the President, no later than 10 months

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from the date of this order, a report on agency FOIA implementation. The 
Attorney General shall consult the OMB Director in the preparation of 
the report and shall include in the report appropriate recommendations 
on administrative or other agency actions for continued agency 
dissemination and release of public information. The Attorney General 
shall thereafter submit two further annual reports, by June 1, 2007, and 
June 1, 2008, that provide the President with an update on the agencies' 
implementation of the FOIA and of their plans under section 3(b) of this 
order.
    (b) Guidance. The Attorney General shall issue such instructions and 
guidance to the heads of departments and agencies as may be appropriate 
to implement sections 3(b) and 3(c) of this order.
    Sec. 5. OMB Director. The OMB Director may issue such instructions 
to the heads of agencies as are necessary to implement this order, other 
than sections 3(b) and 3(c) of this order.
    Sec. 6. Definitions. As used in this order:
    (a) the term ``agency''; has the same meaning as the term 
``agency''; under section 552(f)(1) of title 5, United States Code; and
    (b) the term ``record''; has the same meaning as the term 
``record''; under section 552(f)(2) of title 5, United States Code.
    Sec. 7. General Provisions.
    (a) The agency reviews under section 3(a) of this order and agency 
plans under section 3(b) of this order shall be conducted and developed 
in accordance with applicable law and applicable guidance issued by the 
President, the Attorney General, and the OMB Director, including the 
laws and guidance regarding information technology and the dissemination 
of information.
    (b) This order:
      (i) shall be implemented in a manner consistent with applicable 
      law and subject to the availability of appropriations;
      (ii) shall not be construed to impair or otherwise affect the 
      functions of the OMB Director relating to budget, legislative, or 
      administrative proposals; and
      (iii) is intended only to improve the internal management of the 
      executive branch and is not intended to, and does not, create any 
      right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or 
      in equity by a party against the United States, its departments, 
      agencies, instrumentalities, or entities, its officers or 
      employees, or any other person.
                                                George W. Bush
 The White House,
 December 14, 2005.

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., December 16, 
2005]

Note: This Executive order was published in the Federal Register on 
December 19.