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2025 Chief FOIA Officer Report

Benjamin W. McDonough, Deputy Secretary and Chief FOIA Officer for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), hereby submits the Chief FOIA Officer Report on behalf of the Board.

Section I: FOIA Leadership and Applying the Presumption of Openness

The guiding principle underlying the Attorney General's 2022 FOIA Guidelines is the presumption of openness. The Guidelines also highlight the importance of agency leadership in ensuring effective FOIA administration.

Please answer the following questions about FOIA leadership at your agency and describe the steps your agency has taken to ensure that the presumption of openness is being applied to all decisions involving the FOIA.

A. Leadership Support for FOIA

1. The FOIA requires each agency to designate a Chief FOIA Officer who is a senior official at least at the Assistant Secretary or equivalent level. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(j)(1) (2018). Is your agency's Chief FOIA Officer at or above this level?

Yes

2. Please provide the name and title of your agency's Chief FOIA Officer.

Benjamin W. McDonough, Deputy Secretary of the Board

3. What steps has your agency taken to incorporate FOIA into its core mission? For example, has your agency incorporated FOIA milestones into its strategic plan?

The Board's Strategic Plan 2024-27 notes that the Board prioritizes increasing transparency to ensure public access to relevant and understandable information regarding the organization's policymaking approach and decisions. The plan states that the Board meets this obligation through effectively communicating its policy decisions, comprehensive reporting on its operations, and engagement with the public. In addition, the Board's Annual Performance Plan 2024 reflects the Board's commitment to increase transparency and the public's understanding of its mission through compliance with FOIA, which requires effective records management practices.

B. Presumption of Openness

4. The Attorney General's 2022 FOIA Guidelines provides that "agencies should confirm in response letters to FOIA requesters that they have considered the foreseeable harm standard when reviewing records and applying FOIA exemptions." Does your agency provide such confirmation in its response letters?

Yes, the Board confirms in response letters to FOIA requesters that the foreseeable harm standard was considered when reviewing records and applying FOIA exemptions.

5. In some circumstances, agencies may respond to a requester that it can neither confirm nor deny the existence of requested records if acknowledging the existence of records would harm an interest protected by a FOIA exemption. This is commonly referred to as a Glomar response. If your agency tracks Glomar responses, please provide:

  • the number of times your agency issued a full or partial Glomar response during Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 (separate full and partial if possible);
  • the number of times a Glomar response was issued by exemption during FY 2024 (e.g., Exemption 7(C) - 20 times, Exemption 1 – 5 times).

N/A

6. Optional -- If there are any other initiatives undertaken by your agency to ensure that the presumption of openness is being applied, please describe them here.

The Board promotes openness and transparency by proactively disclosing information important to the public in open and machine-readable formats to accommodates different user preferences. The Board has taken initiatives to further the presumption of openness, such as live-streaming events, updating its FAQs webpages, and engaging the public on social media platforms. See responses to questions in Section III of this report for specific examples.

Section II: Ensuring Fair and Effective FOIA Administration

The Attorney General's 2022 FOIA Guidelines provide that "[e]nsuring fair and effective FOIA administration requires . . . proper training, and a full understanding of FOIA obligations by the entire agency workforce." The Guidelines reinforce longstanding guidance to "work with FOIA requesters in a spirit of cooperation." The Attorney General also "urge[s] agency Chief FOIA Officers to undertake comprehensive review of all aspects of their agency's FOIA administration" as part of ensuring fair and effective FOIA administration.

A. FOIA Training

1. The FOIA directs agency Chief FOIA Officers to ensure that FOIA training is offered to agency personnel. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(j)(2)(F). Please describe the efforts your agency has undertaken to ensure proper FOIA training is made available and used by agency personnel.

The Board incorporated the Office of Information Policy's (OIP) FOIA training modules into the Board's internal training application, which is accessible by all Board staff. Employees who are responsible for administering the FOIA are required to take substantive FOIA training annually and demonstrate appropriate subject matter expertise as part of their employee performance evaluation.

2. Did your FOIA professionals or the personnel at your agency who have FOIA responsibilities attend substantive FOIA training during the reporting period such as that provided by the Department of Justice?

Yes

3. If yes, please provide a brief description of the type of training attended or conducted and the topics covered.

Board FOIA professionals attended virtual trainings provided by OIP on the following topics:

  • Introduction to FOIA – covered foundational elements of FOIA administration, including proactive disclosures and procedural requirements and an overview of the FOIA's exemptions from mandatory disclosure;
  • Continuing FOIA Education – provided an update of current legal and policy developments impacting FOIA administration and an overview of recent FOIA court decisions;
  • Exemption 4 and Exemption 5 Training – provided an overview of the requirements of Exemption 4 protecting trade secrets, certain commercial and financial information, and the submitter-notice process for exemption determinations and an overview of Exemption 5, which incorporates civil discovery privileges;
  • Advanced FOIA Training – discussed advanced topics in FOIA administration including advanced privacy considerations and advanced procedural requirements;
  • Exemption 1 and Exemption 7 Training – gave an overview of Executive Order 13526 and the withholding of classified national security information and an overview of the primary exemption for withholding law enforcement records, including the exemption's threshold requirement and substantive subparts;
  • Litigation Training – covered considerations that arise in the course of FOIA litigation, including guidance on successful litigation strategy and preparation of Vaughn indices and declarations;
  • Administrative Appeals, FOIA Compliance, and Customer Service Training – discussed the FOIA administrative appeal process, an overview of how agency FOIA professionals can help their agency accurately report about their FOIA administration, and an overview of the Office of Government Information Services with a focus on providing good customer service;
  • Best Practices Workshop on Backlog Reduction Plans – discussed a series of questions related to developing backlog reduction plans (BRP), implementing BRPs, and leveraging technology to assist with agency backlogs;
  • Processing a Request from Start to Finish Training – discussed processing a FOIA request from receipt by the agency to final response to the requester;
  • Procedural Requirements, and Fee and Fee Waivers Training – provided an overview of the FOIA's procedural requirements and an overview of the FOIA's fee and fee waiver provisions; and
  • Privacy Considerations Training – discussed the interface between the FOIA and the Privacy Act and an overview of Exemptions 6 and 7(C).

Board FOIA professionals also attended the following trainings provided by the American Society of Access Professionals:

  • 17th Annual National Training Conference – provided information and guidance on numerous FOIA topics, including commonly used FOIA exemptions, the Privacy Act and related privacy issues, and records management and searches;
  • FOIA/Privacy Act Training – discussed precedent-setting litigation, backlog reduction plans, drafting key FOIA documents, FOIA appeals and litigation, Exemptions 4, 5, 6, 7(C), and Privacy Act requests; and
  • FOIA 1974 Amendments Symposium – celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 1974 FOIA Amendments by discussing the background of the amendments, the impact of the amendments, a look at where FOIA is today, and where it is going in the future.

4. Please provide an estimate of the percentage of your FOIA professionals and staff with FOIA responsibilities who attended substantive FOIA training during this reporting period.

All (100 percent) of the Board's FOIA professionals and staff with FOIA responsibilities attended substantive FOIA training during this reporting period.

5. OIP has directed agencies to "take steps to ensure that all of their FOIA professionals attend substantive FOIA training at least once throughout the year." If your response to the previous question is that less than 80 percent of your FOIA professionals attended training, please explain your agency's plan to ensure that all FOIA professionals receive or attend substantive FOIA training during the next reporting year.

N/A

6. Describe any efforts your agency has undertaken to inform non-FOIA professionals of their obligations under the FOIA. In particular, please describe how often and in what formats your agency provides FOIA training or briefings to non-FOIA staff; and if senior leaders at your agency received a briefing on your agency's FOIA resources, obligation and expectations during the FOIA process.

All Board staff can access OIP's FOIA training modules, which are incorporated into the Board's internal training application, which is broadly available. In addition, the Board's FOIA Public Liaison routinely assists Board staff in understanding their responsibilities under the FOIA as well as exemption application and the foreseeable harm standard. The Board's FOIA Public Liaison has also discussed the scope of requests and responsiveness of records with staff in other Board divisions, such as Public Affairs, Legal, and Congressional Liaison.

B. Outreach

7. As part of the standard request process, do your FOIA professionals proactively contact requesters concerning complex or voluminous requests in an effort to clarify or narrow the scope of the request so requesters can receive responses more quickly? Please describe any such outreach or dialogue, and, if applicable, any specific examples.

Yes, the Board's FOIA professionals proactively contact requesters concerning complex or voluminous requests in an effort to clarify or narrow the scope. For example, the Board routinely receives requests for banking application records, such as mergers and exemptions, which are often complex or voluminous. The Board's FOIA professionals proactively contact requesters of banking applications about the possibility of modifying the scope of a request to accept the public version of the application, as designated by the submitter, or previously released application records. Requesters who modify the scope of those requests receive responses more quickly.

8. Outside of the standard request process or routine FOIA Liaison or FOIA Requester Service Center interactions, did your FOIA professionals engage in any outreach or dialogue, with the requester community or open government groups regarding your administration of the FOIA? For example, did you proactively contact frequent requesters, host FOIA-related conference calls with open government groups, or provide FOIA training to members of the public? Please describe any such outreach or dialogue, and, if applicable, any specific examples of how this dialogue has led to improvements in your agency's FOIA administration.

No, the Board's FOIA professionals did not engage in any outreach or dialogue with the requester community outside of the standard request process or routine FOIA Liaison or FOIA Requester Service interactions. But the Board's FOIA professionals regularly dialogue with the requester community to answer questions about a variety of topics, such as the Board's FOIA processes, the Board's statutory responsibilities, and the released information. The FOIA professionals' dialogue with the requester community assists requesters with submitting more targeted requests that can be processed faster and reduces the number of appeals filed. These conversations helped improve the Board's overall FOIA administration.

9. The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 requires additional notification to requesters about the services provided by the agency's FOIA Public Liaison. Please provide an estimate of the number of times requesters sought assistance from your agency's FOIA Public Liaison during FY 2024 (please provide a total number or an estimate of the number for the agency overall).

FOIA requesters sought assistance from the Board's FOIA Public Liaison approximately twenty times during FY 2024.

C. Other Initiatives

10. Has your agency evaluated the allocation of agency personnel resources needed to respond to current and anticipated FOIA demands? If so, please describe what changes your agency has or will implement.

Yes, the Board evaluated the allocation of agency personnel resources needed to respond to current and anticipated FOIA demands. The Board trained an additional FOIA professional to address the increased FOIA demands.

11. How does your agency use data or processing metrics to ensure efficient management of your FOIA workload? For example, case management reports, staff processing statistics, etc. In addition, please specifically highlight any data analysis methods or technologies used.

The Board uses case management reports and staff processing statistics to ensure efficient management of FOIA workload. The Board's Information Disclosure Section manager uses monthly FOIA backlog reports, weekly staff processing reports/statistics, and ad hoc communications to assign or reassign cases among the FOIA professionals when appropriate.

12. The federal FOIA Advisory Committee, comprised of agency representatives and members of the public, were created to foster dialogue between agencies and the requester community, solicit public comments, and develop recommendations for improving FOIA administration. Since 2020, the FOIA Advisory Committee has issued a number of recommendations. Please answer the below questions:

  • Is your agency familiar with the FOIA Advisory Committee and its recommendations?
  • Has your agency implemented any of its recommendations or found them to be helpful? If so, which ones?

The Board is familiar with the FOIA Advisory Committee and its recommendations. The Board has implemented the recommendations below:

  • 2022-07 Enhancing Online Access
  • 2024-02 Process Improvements

13. Optional -- If there are any other initiatives undertaken by your agency to ensure fair and effective FOIA administration, please describe them here.

The Board's FOIA Public Liaison regularly reviews the status of pending FOIA requests to strategize ways to mitigate processing delays and close backlogged FOIA requests. The FOIA Public Liaison also communicates with Board staff in other divisions, when necessary, to facilitate closing requests.

Section III: Proactive Disclosures

The Attorney General's 2022 FOIA Guidelines emphasize that "proactive disclosure of information is … fundamental to the faithful application of the FOIA." The Guidelines direct agencies to post "records online quickly and systematically in advance of any public request" and reiterate that agencies should post records "in the most useful, searchable, and open formats possible."

1. Please describe what steps your agency takes to identify, track, and post (a)(2) proactive disclosures.

The Board's FOIA Public Liaison and staff from other Board divisions collaboratively identify and proactively post records important to members of the public in the Board's electronic FOIA reading room. In addition, the Board's FOIA professionals routinely review the Board's case management system to identify previously released records that can be posted when processing requests. The Board's Information Disclosure Section manager also has tasked one FOIA professional who periodically reviews the Board's FOIA logs to identify, track, and post records for proactive disclosure.

2. Does your agency post logs of its FOIA requests?

No, the Board does not post logs of its FOIA requests.

  • If so, what information is contained in the logs?
  • Are they posted in CSV format? If not, what format are they posted in?
  • Please provide a link to the page where any FOIA logs are posted. If applicable, please provide component links.

N/A

3. Provide examples of any material (with links) that your agency has proactively disclosed during the past reporting year, including records that have been requested and released three or more times in accordance with 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(2)(D).

As previously stated in Section I, the Board is committed to promoting openness and transparency by posting information of public interest in a variety of searchable and machine-readable formats to accommodate various user preferences. The items below are examples of information that the Board has proactively disclosed on its public website.

4. Please provide a link (or component links, if applicable) where your agency routinely posts its frequently requested records.

The Board routinely posts its frequently requested records at the following link: https://www.federalreserve.gov/foia/readingrooms.htm.

5. Beyond posting new material, is your agency taking steps to make the posted information more useful to the public, especially to the community of individuals who regularly access your agency's website? If yes, please provide examples of such improvements, such as steps taken to post information in open and machine-readable formats. If not taking steps to make posted information more useful, please explain why.

Yes, the Board is taking steps to make the posted information more useful to the public, especially to the community of individuals who regularly access the Board's website. Board staff and contractors post information in open and machine-readable formats when feasible. The items below are examples of such information.

  • The Board published The Fed Explained, an interactive site to educate and engage with the public. The site uses plain-language and visually dynamic presentations to focus on the Board's evolution, accountability, and transparency while highlighting key concepts in five functional areas: Monetary Policy; Financial Stability; Supervision and Regulation; Payment Systems; and Consumers and Communities. The site also uses animated imagery, interactive data visualizations, and video clips to put a face to the people who work at the Board.
  • The Board published the Economy at a Glance dashboard which provides the public with factual information about the federal funds target range, inflation, unemployment rate, and gross domestic product.
  • The Board published a revised Proposals for Comment site which contains new technology that simplifies how members of the public submit comments for regulatory proposals. The site reflects a more user-friendly interface which features targeted search capabilities.
  • The Board published the Master Account and Services Database which provides comprehensive, searchable information on which financial institutions have or have requested access to Federal Reserve Bank financial services. The database includes an FAQs page and has two components:
    • The Existing Access database consists of financial institutions that have access to Reserve Bank financial services; and
    • The Access Requests database consists of financial institutions that have requested access to Reserve Bank financial services after December 23, 2022, along with the status of these requests.
  • The Board updated releases for its Data Download Programs in St. Louis's Federal Reserve Economic Data, including:
  • The Board updated statistical release reports, such as:
    • H.2, which provides information on actions of the Board, its staff, and the Federal Reserve Banks;
    • H.4.1, which provides information on factors affecting reserve balances;
    • H.6, which provides information about money stock measures;
    • H.8, which provides information about assets and liabilities of commercial banks in the United States;
    • H.10, which provides information about foreign exchange rates; and
    • H.15, which provides information about selected interest rates.
  • The Board updated the interactive data visualizations to make the information more helpful to the public. The visualization tools allow users to easily download the data for further research, such as:

6. Does your proactive disclosure process or system involve any collaboration with agency staff outside the FOIA office, such as IT or data personnel? If so, describe this interaction.

The Board's FOIA Public Liaison collaborates with Board staff in other divisions, such as Legal and IT, to identify information of widespread public interest to proactively disclose and post on the Board's public website.

7. Optional -- Please describe the best practices used to improve proactive disclosures and any challenges your agency faces in this area.

As noted in response to Question 1 in Section III, the Board's FOIA Public Liaison and staff from other Board divisions collaborate to identify records to proactively post on the Board's electronic FOIA reading room. In addition, the Board's Information Disclosure Section manager tasked one FOIA professional to review the Board's FOIA logs to identify, track, and post records for proactive disclosure. The Board has not faced challenges in proactively disclosing information. As evident from the examples above, the Board has dedicated substantial resources to identifying and proactively posting a broad spectrum of information concerning Board actions, policies, and decisions.

Section IV: Steps Taken to Greater Utilize Technology

A key component of FOIA administration is using technology to make information available to the public and to gain efficiency in FOIA processing. The Attorney General's 2022 FOIA Guidelines emphasize the importance of making FOIA websites easily navigable and complying with the FOIA.gov interoperability requirements. Please answer the following questions to describe how your agency is using technology to improve its FOIA administration and the public's access to information.

1. Has your agency reviewed its FOIA-related technological capabilities to identify resources needed to respond to current and anticipated FOIA demands?

Yes, the Board reviewed its FOIA-related technological capabilities to identify resources needed to respond to current and anticipated FOIA demands.

2. Please briefly describe any new types of technology your agency uses to support your FOIA program.

The Board's commercial-off-the shelf (COTS) software, which is fully interoperable with FOIA.gov, helps increase efficiency in FOIA processing by streamlining and automating the end-to-end processing of FOIA requests. During the reporting period, the Board updated the software to enhance the system's functionality, such as concurrently reassigning multiple requests to a requesting organization's new point of contact.

3. Does your agency currently use any technology to automate record processing? For example, does your agency use machine learning, predictive coding, technology assisted review or similar tools to conduct searches or make redactions? If so, please describe and, if possible, estimate how much time and financial resources are saved since implementing the technology.

The Board uses COTS software to automate record processing. Board staff can use the software to simultaneously redact the same information on multiple pages. In addition, the Board uses COTS software to conduct email searches and de-dupe records. The Board's use of automated technology may have reduced the processing time by approximately one-third depending upon the volume and nature of the records.

4. OIP issued guidance in 2017 encouraging agencies to regularly review their FOIA websites to ensure that they contain essential resources and are informative and user-friendly. Has your agency reviewed its FOIA website(s) during the reporting period to ensure it addresses the elements noted in the guidance?

Yes, the Board's FOIA Public Liaison reviewed the Board's FOIA website during the reporting period to ensure it addresses the elements noted in the guidance.

5. Did all four of your agency's quarterly reports for Fiscal Year 2024 appear on FOIA.gov?

Yes, all four of the Board's quarterly reports for Fiscal Year 2024 appear on FOIA.gov.

6. If your agency did not successfully post all quarterly reports on FOIA.gov, please explain why and provide your agency's plan for ensuring that such reporting is successful in Fiscal Year 2025.

N/A

7. The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 requires all agencies to post the raw statistical data used to compile their Annual FOIA Reports. Please provide the link to this posting for your agency's Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report and, if available, for your agency's Fiscal Year 2024 Annual FOIA Report.

2023 Report and Raw Data: https://www.federalreserve.gov/foia/annrept_2023.htm

2024 Report and Raw Data: https://www.federalreserve.gov/foia/annrept_2024.htm

8. In February 2019, DOJ and OMB issued joint Guidance establishing interoperability standards to receive requests from the National FOIA Portal on FOIA.gov. Are all components of your agency in compliance with the guidance?

Yes, the Board is in compliance with the guidance establishing interoperability to receive requests from the National FOIA Portal on FOIA.gov.

9. Optional -- Please describe the best practices used in greater utilizing technology and any challenges your agency faces in this area.

The Board uses robust electronic recordkeeping software to maintain and archive records needed to process FOIA requests. The Board's electronic recordkeeping system, known as Federated Information Records Management Architecture (FIRMA), currently maintains almost 8 million documents and typically increases in volume by about 780,000 documents each year.

Section V: Steps Taken to Remove Barriers to Access, Improve Timeliness in Responding to Requests, and Reduce Backlogs

The Attorney General's 2022 FOIA Guidelines instruct agencies "to remove barriers to requesting and accessing government records and to reduce FOIA processing backlogs." Please answer the following questions to describe how your agency is removing barriers to access, improving timeliness in responding to requests, and reducing FOIA backlogs.

A. Remove Barriers to Access

1. Has your agency established alternative means of access to first-party requested records, outside of the typical FOIA or Privacy Act process?

Yes, the Board has established alternative means of access to first-party requested records outside of the FOIA process.

2. If yes, please provide examples. If no, please indicate why not. Please also indicate if you do not know.

First-party requesters can submit requests to the Board through the online portal or by mail.

3. Please describe any other steps your agency has taken to remove barriers to accessing government information.

The Board accepts remote identity-proofing and authentication to remove barriers to accessing information in response to first-party requests. Remote identity-proofing and authentication helps expedite the proof of identity requirement for access to first-party records.

B. Timeliness

4. For Fiscal Year 2024, what was the average number of days your agency reported for adjudicating requests for expedited processing? Please see Section VIII.A. of your agency's Fiscal Year 2024 Annual FOIA Report.

The Board adjudicated requests for expedited processing in an average of six days.

5. If your agency's average number of days to adjudicate requests for expedited processing was above ten calendar days, according to Section VIII.A. of your agency's Fiscal Year 2024 Annual FOIA Report, please describe the steps your agency will take to ensure that requests for expedited processing are adjudicated within ten calendar days or less.

N/A

6. Does your agency utilize a separate track for simple requests?

Yes, the Board uses simple, complex, and expedited tracks to process requests.

7. If your agency uses a separate track for simple requests, according to Annual FOIA Report Section VII.A., was the agency overall average number of days to process simple requests twenty working days or fewer in Fiscal Year 2024?

Yes, the average number of days to process a simple request was five.

8. If not, did the simple track average processing time decrease compared to the previous Fiscal Year?

N/A

9. Please provide the percentage of requests processed by your agency in Fiscal Year 2024 that were placed in your simple track. Please use the following calculation based on the data from your Annual FOIA Report: (processed simple requests from Section VII.C.1.) divided by (requests processed from Section V.A.) x 100.

Twenty-one percent of FOIA requests processed by the Board were placed in the simple track.

10. If your agency does not track simple requests separately, was the average number of days to process all non-expedited requests twenty working days or fewer?

N/A

C. Backlogs

Backlogged Requests

11. If your agency had a backlog of requests at the close of Fiscal Year 2024, according to Annual FOIA Report Section XII.D.2, did that backlog decrease as compared with the backlog reported at the end of Fiscal Year 2023?

No, the backlog of requests at the close of Fiscal Year 2024 increased compared with the backlog reported at the end of Fiscal Year 2023.

12. If not, according to Annual FOIA Report Section XII.D.1, did your agency process more requests during Fiscal Year 2024 than it did during Fiscal Year 2023?

Yes, the Board processed more requests during Fiscal Year 2024 than it did during Fiscal Year 2023.

13. If your agency's request backlog increased during Fiscal Year 2024, please explain why and describe the causes that contributed to your agency not being able to reduce its backlog. When doing so, please also indicate if any of the following were contributing factors:

  • An increase in the number of incoming requests
  • A loss of staff
  • An increase in the complexity of the requests received (if possible, please provide examples or briefly describe the types of complex requests contributing to your backlog increase)
  • Litigation
  • Any other reasons – please briefly describe or provide examples when possible

The increase in the Board's request backlog during Fiscal Year 2024 is attributable to an increase in the number and complexity of incoming requests. The Board had a forty-two percent increase in the number of incoming requests in Fiscal Year 2024 compared to Fiscal Year 2023. Despite the increase in the number of incoming requests, the Board's backlogged requests only increased by twenty-eight percent in Fiscal Year 2024 compared to Fiscal Year 2023. In addition, approximately twenty-two percent of the incoming requests involved complex information from five news media requesters pertaining to Board members' communications and meetings with members of the executive branch as well as various memoranda concerning a Federal Reserve System publication.

14. If you had a request backlog, please report the percentage of requests that make up the backlog out of the total number of requests received by your agency in Fiscal Year 2024. Please use the following calculation based on data from your Annual FOIA Report: (backlogged requests from Section XII.A.) divided by (requests received from Section V.A.) x 100. This number can be greater than 100 percent. If your agency has no request backlog, please answer with "N/A."

The percentage of requests that make up the backlog out of the total number of requests received is 4.28 percent.

Backlogged Appeals

15. If your agency had a backlog of appeals at the close of Fiscal Year 2024, according to Section XII.E.2 of the Annual FOIA Report, did that backlog decrease as compared with the backlog reported at the end of Fiscal Year 2023?

No, the backlog of appeals at the close of Fiscal Year 2024 increased compared with the backlog reported at the end of Fiscal Year 2023.

16. If not, according to Section XII.E.1 of the Annual FOIA Report, did your agency process more appeals during Fiscal Year 2024 than it did during Fiscal Year 2023?

Yes, the Board processed more appeals during Fiscal Year 2024 than it did during Fiscal Year 2023.

17. If your agency's appeal backlog increased during Fiscal Year 2024, please explain why and describe the causes that contributed to your agency not being able to reduce its backlog. When doing so, please also indicate if any of the following were contributing factors:

  • An increase in the number of incoming appeals
  • A loss of staff
  • An increase in the complexity of the requests received (if possible, please provide examples or briefly describe the types of complex requests contributing to your backlog increase)
  • Litigation
  • Any other reasons – please briefly describe or provide examples when possible

The increase in the Board's appeal backlog during Fiscal Year 2024 is attributable to an increase in the number of incoming appeals. The Board had a seventy-six percent increase in the number of appeals received in Fiscal Year 2024 compared to Fiscal Year 2023. Approximately eighteen percent of the appeals involved complex requests from news media requesters. Most of the backlogged appeals involved requests concerning bank system stresses.

18. If you had an appeal backlog please report the percentage of appeals that make up the backlog out of the total number of appeals received by your agency in Fiscal Year 2024. Please use the following calculation based on the data from your Annual FOIA Report: (backlogged appeals from Section XII.A.) divided by (appeals received from Section VI.A.) x 100. This number can be greater than 100 percent. If your agency did not receive any appeals in Fiscal Year 2024 and/or has no appeal backlog, please answer with "N/A."

The percentage of appeals that make up the backlog out of the total number of appeals received is eleven percent.

D. Backlog Reduction Plans

19. In the 2024 guidelines for Chief FOIA Officer Reports, any agency with a backlog of over 1000 requests in Fiscal Year 2023 was asked to provide a plan for achieving backlog reduction in the year ahead. Did your agency implement a backlog reduction plan last year? If so, describe your agency's efforts in implementing this plan and note if your agency was able to achieve backlog reduction in Fiscal Year 2024?

N/A

20. If your agency had a backlog of more than 1,000 requests in Fiscal Year 2024, please explain your agency's plan to reduce this backlog during Fiscal Year 2025.

N/A

E. Reducing the Age of Requests, Appeals, and Consultations

Ten Oldest Requests

21. In Fiscal Year 2024, did your agency close the ten oldest pending perfected requests that were reported in Section VII.E. of your Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report?

Yes, the Board closed the ten oldest pending perfected requests that were reported in the Board's Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report.

22. If no, please provide the number of these requests your agency was able to close by the end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section VII.E. of your Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report. If you had less than ten total oldest requests to close, please indicate that.

N/A

23. Beyond work on the ten oldest requests, please describe any steps your agency took to reduce the overall age of your pending requests.

To reduce the overall age of pending requests, the Board assigned similar complex requests to FOIA professionals who had experience processing those types of requests and assigned unperfected requests to specific FOIA professionals.

Ten Oldest Appeals

24. In Fiscal Year 2024, did your agency close the ten oldest appeals that were reported pending in Section VI.C.5 of your Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report?

No, the Board did not close the three oldest appeals that were reported pending in the Board's Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report.

25. If no, please provide the number of these appeals your agency was able to close by the end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section VII.C.5 of your Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report. If you had less than ten total oldest appeals to close, please indicate that.

The Board closed two of the three oldest appeals by the end of the fiscal year.

26. Beyond work on the ten oldest appeals, please describe any steps your agency took to reduce the overall age of your pending appeals.

The Board increased the number of FOIA professionals who processed certain types of appeals and reconsidered adverse determinations, where applicable, to reduce the overall age of pending appeals.

Ten Oldest Consultations

27. In Fiscal Year 2024, did your agency close the ten oldest consultations that were reported pending in Section XII.C. of your Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report?

Yes, the Board closed the ten oldest consultations that were reported pending in the Board's Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report.

28. If no, please provide the number of these consultations your agency was able to close by the end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section XII.C. of your Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report. If you had less than ten total oldest consultations to close, please indicate that.

The Board had less than ten total oldest consultations to close by the end of the fiscal year.

Additional Information Regarding Ten Oldest

29. If your agency did not close its ten oldest pending requests, appeals, or consultations, please explain why and provide a plan describing how your agency intends to close those "ten oldest" requests, appeals, and consultations during Fiscal Year 2025.

As noted above, the Board closed two of the three "ten oldest" pending appeals in Fiscal Year 2024. The Board intends to dedicate additional resources to close the last "ten oldest" appeal in Fiscal Year 2025.

F. Additional Information about FOIA Processing

30. Were any requests at your agency the subject of FOIA litigation during the reporting period? If so, please describe the impact on your agency's overall FOIA request processing and backlog. If possible, please indicate:

  • The number and nature of requests subject to litigation
  • Common causes leading to litigation
  • Any other information to illustrate the impact of litigation on your overall FOIA administration

The Board had sixteen requests that were the subject of FOIA litigation during the reporting period. Fifteen of those requests were from news media. Six of the sixteen requests concerned the bank system stresses involving Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Four of the sixteen requests concerned ethics matters involving Federal Reserve System leadership. The six remaining litigations concerned various subjects, such as digital currency, discount window, OIG reports and audits, Board member emails, proposed FOIA legislation regarding the Reserve Banks, and systemic racism. Most of the litigations resulted from the Board's untimely responses to the initial requests. Six of the sixteen requests were dismissed with prejudice during the reporting period. Despite having sixteen litigations, the Board processed forty-five percent more requests in Fiscal Year 2024 compared to Fiscal Year 2023.

Last Update: March 14, 2025