FOIA requests on the White House at low level

Dear Friends:

It is generally agreed upon by White House watchers that under President George W. Bush, the flow of information from the Administration and leaks to the press are tighter than under any other recent president.

One way of extracting information out of the White House is, of course, through Freedom of Information Act requests, which are tracked by the Office of Administration.

Not all components of the White House fall under the provisions of FOIA, as explained on the White House web site:

"The President's immediate personal staff and units within the EOP whose sole function is to advise and assist the President are not subject to FOIA.
"The EOP entities subject to the FOIA are:
Council on Environmental Quality
Office of Administration
Office of Management and Budget
Office of National Drug Control Policy
Office of Science and Technology Policy
Office of the United States Trade Representative


"The EOP entities exempt from the provisions of the FOIA are:


White House Office
Office of the Vice President
Council of Economic Advisers
National Security Council
Office of Policy Development
Domestic Policy Council
Office of National AIDS Policy
National Economic Council
President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board"

Even with so many parts of the White House off-limits to FOIA requests, I'd think requests from the press and public for documents and data from the components that are subject to FOIA would be high, especially for the current Bush Administration.

But a look at the annual FOIA reports for the White House available on the web reveal FOIA requests are at an all-time low.

The highest number of recent FOIA requests were made during Bill Clinton's last year in office, 97.

Conversely, the lowest number of FOIA requests made on the White House were recorded in 2003, when only 38 such requests were filed.

Here are the numbers from the White House:


http://www.whitehouse.gov/oa/foia/foia99.pdf

Number of requests received during current fiscal year: 54

http://www.whitehouse.gov/oa/foia/foia1999.pdf

Number of requests received during current fiscal year: 63

http://www.whitehouse.gov/oa/foia/foia2000.pdf

Number of requests received during current fiscal year: 97

http://www.whitehouse.gov/oa/foia/foia2001.pdf

Number of requests received during current fiscal year: 91

http://www.whitehouse.gov/oa/foia/foia2002.html

Number of requests received during current fiscal year: 47

http://www.whitehouse.gov/oa/foia/foia2003.html

Number of requests received during current fiscal year: 38

Maybe it's naive of me to think reporters, especially those for liberal publications, the public and citizen watchdogs would be using FOIA to obtain information from the George W. Bush White House, but that clearly isn't the case.

Considering this Administration is so tightlipped, I'd expect dozens, maybe hundreds, of FOIA requests made to pry loose documents and information, particularly related to the Office of Management and Budget, given the sorry shape of the economy.

As the second term begins for Dubya, I hope that by calling some attention to the incredibly low number of FOIA requests last year, just 38, more members of the press and public use FOIA to make the White House more transparent and accountable in the next four years.