§ 518.53 - Public information.

(a) Since the policy of the Department of Defense is to make the maximum amount of information available to the public consistent with its other responsibilities, written requests for a DoD or Department of the Army record made under the FOIA may be denied only when:

(1) The record is subject to one or more of the exemptions in subpart C of this part.

(2) The record has not been described well enough to enable the DoD Component to locate it with a reasonable amount of effort by an employee familiar with the files.

(3) The requester has failed to comply with the procedural requirements, including the written agreement to pay or payment of any required fee imposed by the instructions of the DoD Component concerned. When personally identifiable information in a record is requested by the subject of the record or his attorney, notarization of the request may be required.

(b) Individuals seeking DoD information should address their FOIA requests to one of the addresses listed in appendix B.

(c) Release of information under the FOIA can have an adverse impact on OPSEC. The Army implementing directive for OPSEC is AR 530-1. It requires that OPSEC points of contact be named for all HQDA staff agencies and for all commands down to battalion level. The FOIA official for the staff agency or command will use DA Form 4948-R to announce the OPSEC/FOIA advisor for the command. Persons named as OPSEC points of contact will be OPSEC/FOIA advisors. Command OPSEC/FOIA advisors should implement the policies and procedures in AR 530-1, consistent with this regulation and with the following considerations:

(1) Documents or parts of documents properly classified in the interest of national security must be protected. Classified documents may be released in response to a FOIA request only under AR 380-5, chapter III. AR 380-5 provides that if parts of a document are not classified and can be segregated with reasonable ease, they may be released, but parts requiring continued protection must be clearly identified.

(2) The release of unclassified documents could violate national security. When this appears possible, OPSEC-FOIA advisors should request a classification evaluation of the document by its proponent under AR 380-5, paragraphs 2-204, 2-600, 2-800, and 2-801. In such cases, other FOIA exemptions (para 3-200) may also apply.

(3) A combination of unclassified documents, or parts of them, could combine to supply information that might violate national security if released. When this appears possible, OPSEC/FOIA advisors should consider classifying the combined information per AR 380-5, paragraph 2-211.

(4) A document or information may not be properly or currently classified when a FOIA request for it is received. In this case, the request may not be denied on the grounds that the document or information is classified except in accordance with Executive Order 12356, § 1.6(d), and AR 380-5, paragraph 2-204, and with approval of the Army General Counsel.

(d) OPSEC/FOIA advisors will—

(1) Advise persons processing FOIA requests on related OPSEC requirements.

(2) Help custodians of requested documents prepare requests for classification evaluations.

(3) Help custodians of requested documents identify the parts of documents that must remain classified under this paragraph and AR 380-5.

(e) OPSEC/FOIA advisors do not, by their actions, relieve FOIA personnel and custodians processing FOIA requests of their responsibility to protect classified or exempted information.