(a) In general. The Board delegates authority to grant or deny FOIA requests in whole or in part to the FOIA Officer. When conducting a search for responsive records, the FOIA Officer generally will search for records in existence on the date of the search. If another date is used, the FOIA Officer shall inform the requester of the date used.

(b) Responses. The FOIA Officer will notify you of his or her determination to grant or deny your FOIA request in the time frame stated in §1001.8. The Board will release reasonably segregable non-exempt information. For any adverse determination, including those regarding any disputed fee matter; a denial of a request for a fee waiver; or a determination to withhold a record, in whole or in part, that a record does not exist or cannot be located; or to deny a request for expedited processing; the notice shall include the following information:

(1) The name(s) of any person responsible for the determination to deny the request in whole or in part;

(2) A brief statement of the reason(s) for the denial, including any FOIA exemption applied in denying the request. The FOIA Officer will indicate, if technically feasible, the amount of information deleted and the exemption under which a deletion is made on the released portion of the record, unless including that indication would harm an interest protected by the exemption;

(3) An estimate of the volume of information withheld, if applicable. This estimate does not need to be provided if it is ascertainable based on redactions in partially disclosed records or if the disclosure of the estimate would harm an interest protected by an applicable FOIA exemption;

(4) A statement that the adverse determination may be appealed and a description of the requirements for an appeal under §1001.7; and

(5) A statement notifying you of the assistance available from the Board's FOIA Public Liaison and the dispute resolution services offered by OGIS.

(c) Consultations and referrals.

(1) Upon receipt of a FOIA request for a record within the Board's possession, the FOIA Officer should determine if the Board or another federal agency is best able to determine eligibility for disclosure under the FOIA. If the FOIA Officer determines that another agency is better able to evaluate the releasibility of the record, the FOIA Officer shall:

(1) Upon receipt of a FOIA request for a record within the Board's possession, the FOIA Officer should determine if the Board or another federal agency is best able to determine eligibility for disclosure under the FOIA. As to any such record, the FOIA Officer must proceed in one of the following ways:

(i) Consultation. When records originated with the Board, but contain within them information of interest to or originated by another agency or Federal Government office, the FOIA Officer must consult with that other entity prior to making a release determination.

(ii) Referral. When the FOIA Officer believes that a different agency is best able to determine whether to disclose the record the FOIA Officer will refer the responsibility for responding to the request regarding that record to that agency (but only if that other department or agency is subject to FOIA). Ordinarily, the department or agency that originated the record will be presumed best able to determine whether to disclose it. However, if the FOIA Officer and the originating agency jointly agree that the Board is in the best position to respond regarding the record, then the record may be handled as a consultation.

(2) Whenever a request is made for information that is classified, the FOIA Officer shall refer the responsibility for responding to that portion of the request to the agency that originated the information, or has the primary interest in it, as appropriate. Whenever a record contains information that the Board has derivatively classified because it contains information classified by another agency, the FOIA Officer shall refer the responsibility for responding to the request regarding that information to the agency that classified the underlying information or originated the record.

(3) If responsibility for responding to a request is referred to another department or agency, the FOIA Officer shall notify you of the referral. This notice shall identify the part of the request that has been referred and the name of each department or agency to which the request, or part of the request, has been referred, when appropriate and available, the notice will include a point of contact for the referral agency or department.

(d) Coordination. The standard referral procedure is not appropriate where disclosure of the identity of the agency to which the referral would be made is classified for national security reasons or otherwise could harm an interest protected by an applicable exemption, such as the exemptions that protect personal privacy or national security interests. For instance, if the Board locates within its files materials originating with an Intelligence Community agency, and the involvement of that agency in the matter is classified and not publicly acknowledged, then to disclose or give attribution to the involvement of that Intelligence Community agency could cause national security harms. In such an instance, in order to avoid harm to an interest protected by an applicable exemption, the Board will coordinate with the originating agency to seek its views on the disclosability of the record. The release determination for the record that is the subject of the coordination will then be conveyed to the requester by the Board.

[78 FR 66997, Nov. 8, 2013, as amended at 82 FR 34836, July 27, 2017]