SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2016, Issue No. 20
March 4, 2016

Secrecy News Blog: http://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/

ODNI WILL REVISE DECLASSIFICATION FEE POLICY

In response to criticism of the hefty fees that could be charged to public requesters in its new Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) rule, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has agreed to modify the rule.

The revised rule will adopt the more flexible and forgiving approach used in ODNI's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program.

"We will pull back the MDR rule and swap out the fee structure there for the fee structure in the FOIA policy," said Jennifer Hudson, director of the ODNI Information Management Division.

This represents a substantial change. In comments on the rule submitted yesterday by the Federation of American Scientists, we recommended such a change. We noted that the MDR fee schedule was inconsistent in several respects with existing law and policy and, in particular, that it differed from the cost recovery procedures in ODNI's FOIA program:

* The MDR rule would charge 50 cents per page for photocopying, but ODNI charges only 10 cents per page for responses to FOIA requests.

* The MDR rule would have made requesters responsible "for paying all fees," but ODNI always waives costs of $10 or lower under FOIA.

* The MDR rule did not provide for discretionary fee waivers for public interest or other reasons, but the FOIA policy does.

Now all of these discrepancies will be eliminated. Perhaps most significantly, "We will also make sure that there is room [in the MDR process] for discretion in charging fees," Ms. Hudson said in an email message. "I'm sure you know from looking at our FOIA reports that we have exercised our discretion to not charge fees quite a bit in the past."

She noted, however, that "The search/review charges are identical" under the proposed MDR rule and under FOIA. "FOIA just breaks [the charges] down into 15 minute increments where the MDR rule is by the hour. The end result is the same."

"At the end of the day, I don't think it will make as much of a difference as people think," she said.

BILL WOULD AUTHORIZE RELEASE OF CRS REPORTS

A bill to make Congressional Research Service reports available to the public through authorized rather than unauthorized channels was introduced in Congress yesterday.

The bill was sponsored in the Senate (S. 2639) by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and in the House (H. 4702) by Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ) and Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL).

While the support of these congressional sponsors of both parties is promising, the proposal to provide authorized public access to non-confidential CRS publications is not assured of passage.

A press release from Sen. Leahy's office yesterday noted gamely that "McCain and Leahy have partnered for more than a decade in pressing for this change."

Still, conditions for approval of the measure seem more favorable today than for many years past, thanks largely to a broad coalition of support mobilized by Daniel Schuman of Demand Progress and Kevin Kosar of the R Street Institute, themselves former CRS employees.

In the meantime, the latest reports from CRS that are not yet subject to authorized public disclosure include the following.

Lead in Flint, Michigan's Drinking Water: Federal Regulatory Role, CRS Insight, updated March 2, 2016:

Authorizing New Additions to Memorials in the District of Columbia: Issues for Consideration, CRS Insight, March 2, 2016:

Cybersecurity: Education, Training, and R&D Authoritative Reports and Resources, March 3, 2016:

Cybersecurity: Overview Reports and Links to Government, News, and Related Resources, March 2, 2016:

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act: History, Impact, and Issues, March 2, 2016:

Child Support: An Overview of Census Bureau Data on Recipients, March 1, 2016:

The Proposed U.S. Foreign Assistance Initiative "Peace Colombia", CRS Insight, March 3, 2016:

Latin America and the Caribbean: Fact Sheet on Leaders and Elections, March 1, 2016:

Marine Corps Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) and Marine Personnel Carrier (MPC): Background and Issues for Congress, February 26, 2016:

International Trade and Finance: Key Policy Issues for the 114th Congress, 2nd Session, February 29, 2016:

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Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists.

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