I. Vagueness

FOIA requires that requested records be “reasonably describe[d].”¹ As one court has said, a request meets this requirement if “the agency is able to determine precisely what records are being requested.”² As another put it, the standard is met when it allows “a professional employee of the agency who [is] familiar with the subject area of the request to locate the record with a reasonable amount of effort.”³

If an agency tells you your records request was vague, you should attempt to narrow your request on appeal to make it relatively specific. You should bear in mind the standards courts have set for what is considered a “vague” request.

You should write a request in such a way that employees of the agency will be able to identify responsive records rather than write “questions disguised as a FOIA request”⁴ or requests that appear to be “a general fishing expedition for answers to questions.”⁵ For the same reason, a request that would require an agency “to create documents or opinions in response to an individual's request for information”⁶ should also be avoided.

For example, a request that essentially asked for “sentencing statistics” about “each and every criminal case” decided over one year in three jurisdictions under a plea bargaining rule -- where the information was not already assembled and needed to be gathered through a thorough examination of large numbers of documents -- was found to be too vague.⁷

The court explained that “[a] reasonable description requires the requested record to be reasonably identified as a record,” rather than “as a general request for data, information and statistics to be gleaned generally from documents which have not been created and which the agency does not generally create or require.”⁸ Similarly, a request that sought “any information” collected by USAID of “possible violations” of a federal regulation was considered too vague because it required the agency to “make a complicated judgment call” after it located and arranged a large amount of information.⁹

On appeal, you should narrow or clarify your request to seek specific information that you believe an agency possesses in its existing records, and avoid requests that demand original information gathering, research, or a new opinionated work product of an agency.       

“Broad, sweeping requests lacking specificity”¹⁰ should also be avoided, because agencies will not be required to fulfill them when they are not “able to determine precisely what records are being requested.”¹¹

For example, in a case where a requester sought “any and all documents, including but not limited to files, that refer or relate in any way to [the requester],” the court found the request to be too broad because the agency could not locate with reasonable effort the specific documents requested.¹² In another case, a “blanket request for all unpublished manuscript decisions” of the patent office was considered “sweeping and indiscriminate” where more than a million documents might have been responsive records.¹³ A request for all documents about an individual requester is often considered too broad.¹⁴

You should seek to narrow your request on appeal to be as specific as possible about what documents should be searched for and in what locations. You should try to tailor a request to include information such as what “records [you] seek[], for what years, and located at which office”¹⁵ of an agency. Where relevant, you may wish to include such information as docket and case numbers of records.

You also may wish to contact the agency to determine more precise information about the agency’s record-keeping practices and systems. Agency officials may also be contacted to determine more precise information about the records or record keeping practices. To narrow a request, you should also refer to news reports, government statements or press releases, other government documents, and/or internet research that suggests where the records may be located.

Agencies are also required under FOIA to make publicly available details about their “information systems,” as well as of “information and record locator systems,”¹⁶ and you should avail yourself of these resources when you seek to clarify a request. For example, the FBI maintains an online guide that explains where its records are located, how they are organized, and the citation format to use to reference records in FOIA requests.¹⁷ The more you tailor your request to an agency’s procedures and nomenclature, the more likely it may be that you will receive responsive records.