DHS outlines its process for responding to FOIA and congressional requests in internal policy and procedure documents, which include timeliness goals (some of which are based on statutory timelines) and other guidance for searching for, collecting, processing, and producing responsive materials. Regarding FOIA requests, while DHS generally met deadlines for responding to simple FOIA requests, it did not do so for most complex requests. A significant increase in requests received, coupled with resource constraints, limited DHS’ ability to meet production timelines under FOIA, creating a litigation risk for the Department. However, despite the limitations, DHS FOIA response times are better than the averages across the Federal Government. Additionally, DHS has not always fully documented its search efforts, making it difficult for the Department to defend the reasonableness of the searches undertaken.

With respect to responding to congressional requests, DHS has established a timeliness goal of 15 business days or less. However, we found that, on average, it took DHS nearly twice as long to provide substantive responses to Congress, with some requests going unanswered for up to 450 business days. Further, DHS redacted personal information in its responses to congressional committee chairs even when disclosure of the information was statutorily permissible.