Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Program

Due to events on and after Sept 11, mail service to the Pentagon has been delayed.

DoD Personnel Service Records are maintained at the NARA's National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

If you wish to make a Freedom of Information Act request for records maintained by the Office of the Secretary of Defense/Joint Staff, please go to the Electronic FOIA Request section and follow the procedures for making an electronic request.

•  Department of Defense (DoD) Freedom of Information Act Handbook (148K bytes). This document provides basic information about the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Program within the Department of Defense (DoD).
  


• Department of Defense (DoD) Freedom of Information Briefing (2K bytes)

•  Department of Defense (DoD) Freedom of Information Act Program Regulation, DoD 5400.7-R, September 1998. This document provides guidance regarding administration of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Program within the DoD. Go here for the ASCII (Text Only) version. NOTE: Effective 7/1/2002, fees for FOIA requests are changing. Please refer to the Department of Defense FOIA Guidance page.
  


•  Department of Defense FOIA Guidance (html index of PDF files), Memorandums and guidance concerning implementing the FOIA within the DoD.
  

Annual Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Program Reports:

 Fiscal Year 2003 Report
 Fiscal Year 2002 Report
 Fiscal Year 2001 Report
 Fiscal Year 2000 Report
 Fiscal Year 1999 Report
Fiscal Year 1998 Report
Calendar Year 1997 Report
Calendar Year 1996 Report


• Master DFOISR Reading Room List. An HTML index of all documents in the master DFOISR reading room. Due to limitations on web space, this page does not contain the documents. To request a document or documents on this list, you must make a FOIA request to:

  Directorate for Freedom of Information & Security Review (DFOISR)
  Room 2C757
  1155 Defense Pentagon
  Washington, DC 20301-1155

  Fees for reproduction may apply ($5.00 per CD plus computer operator time billed at $44 per hour), so please indicate a willingness to pay fees with your request. All documents are maintained in PDF and may contain redactions. In some cases, documents have been reviewed at the appellate level and in other cases unredacted copies of the reading room documents are no longer available in DFOISR. A separate FOIA request will be required for any redacted portions.
  



• Documents concerning the service of President George W. Bush in the Texas Air National Guard. Information within these documents has been redacted to protect the privacy of individuals, 5 USC § 552(b)(6).
  


•  Office of the Secretary of Defense/Joint Staff Electronic Reading Room. The Freedom of Information Act, FOIA [5 USC 552(a)(2)(D)], requires that certain documents of interest to the general public be published electronically. The Directorate for Freedom of Information and Security Review is making these documents available to the general public in electronic form.
  


• Major Automated Information Systems Descriptions
  Click on the title to review an index and description of Department of Defense Major Information Systems as required by sections (g) (1) and (g)(2) of the Freedom of Information Act.



• Find descriptions of documents currently in the FOIA Electronic Reading Room, by BROWSING or SEARCHING the DoD Resource Locator which provides an on-line index for the FOIA Reading Room in GILS (Government Information Locator Service) format. Any DoD organization can load a FOIA Reading Room document onto their web site and then go to the DoD Resource Locator and REGISTER that document. This provides a single searchable list of document descriptions for all DoD. Note that the information you provide will be validated to ensure that it has been submitted by an official DoD organization.
  


• Doing business with the DoD
  Select this link if you are interested in information about seeking or receiving business contracts with the DoD.
  


• Service Records
  Service records on former DoD civilians and military members are NOT maintained by the DoD. They are maintained by NARA's National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
  


• DoD Security Background Investigation
  If you have had a security clearance granted by the DoD and are requesting any information from the investigation, then you should send a request to the Defense Security Service.
  


• Electronic FOIA Request
  This is for making an electronic Freedom of Information Act request to the Directorate for Freedom of Information & Security Review. Please fill out all mandatory fields to include indicating a maximum dollar amount you are willing to pay for potentially assessable fees. For more information on making your FOIA request, please see the Department of Defense (DoD) Freedom of Information Act Handbook PDF file.
  


• Links to Some Other DoD Component FOIA Electronic Reading Rooms:



Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Defense Security Service (DSS) Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Office of the Inspector General (DoD IG)

National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) National Security Agency (NSA) Army Navy Air Force Marine Corps Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA)



• For Electronic Reading Room copies of final opinions, adjudications, statements of policy, and administrative staff manuals, go toWashington Headquarters Services (WHS). Click on "FOIA A2 FILES" under "DoD Issuances".

Return to Main DoD FOIA Page