Freedom of Information Act |
 The Freedom of
Information
Act (FOIA), known by its legal cite
as 5 United
States Code (U.S.C.) Section 552,
along with
Department of Defense (DoD)
Publication
5400.7, can be found at Part 286 of
Chapter 32 of
the Code of Federal Regulations
(CFR), which
is available in most libraries or
online from
the
U.S.
Government Printing Office Access CFR Web
site.
|
|
|
|
What is the
FOIA? |
How to file a FOIA request: |
| The FOIA allows the general
public
including foreign citizens, military and
civilian
personnel acting as private citizens,
to request
records electronically or in writing
from the
Federal Government. Some records are
released to
the public under the FOIA, and may
therefore
reflect deletion of some information
in accordance
with the FOIA's nine statutory
exemptions or
two law enforcement record
exclusions. A
consolidated list of such records
is on
the DoD
and
Air Force
FOIA sites. Currently the law
allows 20
working days to process a FOIA request
upon receipt
of the request in the FOIA office. |
If you are
seeking Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs
and/or
Michigan National Guard information under
the Freedom
of Information Act you must provide
a signed
letter indicating the specific records
you are
seeking. The letter, containing your
signature,
can be mailed, faxed, or scanned and
sent as an
e-mail attachment
SEND
TO:
Department of
Military and Veterans Affairs
Attention:
JAG
3411 N.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
Lansing MI
48906
-or-
FAX:
517-481-8102
-or-
Email -
NGMIMilitaryFOIA@ng.army.mil
|
|
Activities Served |
Fee
Categories |
|
The Office of
the State Staff Judge Advocate
(JAG) handles
FOIA requests for the
directorates,
offices, sections, brigades,
battalions,
units and other organizations within
the Michigan
Department of Military and Veterans
Affairs and
the Michigan Army and Air National
Guard.
|
-
Educational, noncommercial, scientific or media: Any accredited U.S.
educational or research
institution or instructor of an
institution, or representative
of the news media using the
information in a scholarly or
analytical work contributing to
public knowledge and
disseminated to the public.
-
Commercial: Increases the commercial interest of the requestor
-
Others: All other requestors.
|
|
Essential elements of a FOIA request letter
|
Fees |
- Provide your full name and contact
information,
including phone number(s), email
and mailing
address.
- Provide a reasonable description of the
record(s)
requested.
- Provide a statement of your fee category and
your
willingness to pay applicable fees.
|
The FOIA
provides for the collection of fees for:
-
Searches - Time spent looking for and retrieving material, either paper
or electronic files, that are
responsive to the request to
include personnel hours
(clerical and professional) and
computer time.
-
Reviews - Time spent to determine if the record is releasable under legal
guidelines, excluding resolution
of legal or policy issues.This does include time
spent excising text that is
exempt under FOIA.
-
Reproduction - Generating a copy of a requested record in the appropriate
medium, for example paper or
computer file.
|
|
Commonly Requested Documents |
|
Documents Pending
|
|
Questions and
follow-up |
|
For FOIA
questions or to follow-up on a FOIA
request, call
the JAG at 517.481.8100.
If you are not satisfied with the response, you
may contact
the Department of Military and
Veterans
Affairs / Michigan National Guard FOIA
Public
Liaison Colonel (retired) Mark Van Drie
at
517.481.8092 or
NGMIMilFOIAliaison@ng.army.mil. |
Related Documents
> FOIA Handbook - 122511 bytes 
|
