Over the years, the FOIPA Section at FBIHQ has engaged in a continual re-engineering process in an effort to better serve the needs of requesters who seek information from the FBI. In 2002, reorganization of various divisions at FBIHQ resulted in the formation of the Records Management Division, which now handles all Freedom of Information/Privacy Act (FOIPA) requests through the Record/Information Dissemination Section (RIDS).
The mission of RIDS is to effectively plan, develop, direct and manage responses to requests for access to FBI records and information. The requests and disclosure comply with the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts (Title 5, United States Code, Section 552 and 552a), Executive Order 12958, as amended, Presidential, Attorney General, and FBI policies and procedures, judicial decisions, and other Presidential and Congressional directives. In furtherance of this mission, RIDS efforts are directed to appropriately release information in an efficient and effective manner protecting legitimate law enforcement, foreign policy, and national security and defense interests and to remain forthcoming to the American public. RIDS currently employs approximately 300 employees, most of whom are Legal Administrative Specialists. RIDS consists of 11 Units whose shared function is to intake, review, process, and release information in response to FOIA and Privacy Act requests.
Adapting technology as a means to leverage the demands of the FOIPA, RIDS has moved to paperless processing through its FOIPA Document Processing Systems (FDPS). The FDPS is a computer management system developed specifically for the FBI, which is designed to comply with the legal requirements under E-FOIA for the electronic processing of requests for documents classified at the “Secret” level or below. The FDPS allows the FBI to scan official FBI paper files, documents, and correspondence, and then process them electronically rather than by the traditional method of redacting information manually on paper. RIDS is using the system for all new FOIA and Privacy Act requests.
RIDS still maintains the FBI Reading Room located in the J. Edgar Hoover Building and the Electronic Reading Room. Cases of interest are added to the Electronic Reading Room periodically. Recently, all Reading Room documents were converted to CD Rom, reducing significantly the cost of voluminous cases. |
