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It is the policy
of the agency to make records available to the public to the greatest extent
possible, in keeping with the spirit of the FOIA, while at the same time
protecting sensitive information. The following is a list of FOIA exemptions
which apply to Government information in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(b):
(b)(1) EXEMPTION 1
Classified Secret Matters or National Defense or Foreign Policy.
This exemption protects from disclosure national security information
concerning the national defense or foreign policy, provided that it has been
properly classified in accordance with the substantive and procedural
requirements of an executive order.
(b)(2) EXEMPTION 2
Internal Personnel Rules and Practices.
This exemption exempts from mandatory disclosure records "related
solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency." Courts
have interpreted the exemption to encompass two distinct categories of
information:
(a) internal
matters of a relatively trivial nature--sometimes referred to as
"low2" information; and
(b) more substantial
internal matters, the disclosure of which would risk circumvention of a legal
requirement--sometimes referred to as "high 2" information.
(b)(3) EXEMPTION 3
Information Specifically Exempted by Other Statutes.
This exemption incorporates the disclosure prohibitions that are
contained in various other federal statutes. As originally enacted in 1966,
Exemption 3 was broadly phrased so as to simply cover information
"specifically exempted from disclosure by statute." The new Exemption
3 statue prohibits agencies from releasing under the FOIA any proposal
"submitted by a contractor in response to the requirements of a
solicitation for a competitive proposals," unless that proposal "is
set forth or incorporated by reference in a contract entered into between the
agency and the contractor that submitted the proposal."
(b)(4) EXEMPTION 4
Trade Secrets, Commercial or Financial Information.
This exemption protects "trade secrets and commercial or financial
information obtained from a person [that is] privileged or confidential."
This exemption is intended to protect the interest of both the government and
submitter of information.
(b)(5) EXEMPTION 5
Privileged Interagency or Intra-Agency Memoranda or Letters.
This exemption protects "inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums
of letters which would not be available by law to a party ...in litigation with
the agency." As such, it has been construed to "exempt those
documents, and only those documents, normally privileged in the civil discovery
context."
(b)(6) EXEMPTION 6
Personal Information Affecting an Individual's Privacy.
This exemption permits the government to withhold all information about
individuals in "personnel and medical files and similar files" when
the disclosure of such information " would constitute a clearly unwarranted
invasion of personal privacy." This exemption cannot be invoked to withhold
from a requester information pertaining to the requester.
(b)(7) EXEMPTION 7
Investigatory Records Compiled for Law Enforcement Purposes.
As amended, this exemption protects from disclosure records or
information compiled for law enforcement purposes.
(b)(7) EXEMPTION
7(A) Records or Information That Could Reasonably by Expected to Interfere With
Enforcement Proceedings.
This exemption authorizes the withholding of "records or
information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that
production of such law enforcement records or information ... could reasonably
be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings."
(b)(7) EXEMPTION
7(B) Disclosure Which Would Deprive a Person of a Fair Trial or an Impartial
Adjudication.
Records that would prevent prejudicial pretrial publicity that could
impair a court proceeding, protects "records or information compiled for
law enforcement purposes [the disclosure of which] would deprive a person of the
right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication."
(b)(7) EXEMPTION
7(C) Personal Information in Law Enforcement Records.
This exemption provides protection for personal information in law
enforcement records. This exemption is the law enforcement counterpart to
Exemption 6, providing protection for law enforcement information the disclosure
of which "could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted
invasion of personal privacy."
(b)(7) EXEMPTION
7(D) Identity of a Confidential Source.
This exemption provides protection for "records or information
compiled for law enforcement purposes [which] could reasonably be expected to
disclose the identity of a confidential source --including a State, local, or
foreign agency or authority or any private institution which furnished
information on a confidential basis--and, in the case of a record or information
compiled by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal
investigation, or by an agency conducting a lawful national security
intelligence investigation, information furnished by a confidential
source."
(b)(7) EXEMPTION
7(E) Circumvention of the Law.
This exemption affords protection to all law enforcement information
which "would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement
investigations or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement
investigations or prosecutions if such disclosure could reasonably be expected
to risk circumvention of the law."
(b)(7) EXEMPTION
7(F) Physical Safety to Protect a Wide Range of Individuals.
This exemption permits the withholding of information necessary to
protect the physical safety of a wide range of individuals. Whereas Exemption
7(F) previously protected records that "would ...endanger the life or
physical safety of law enforcement personnel," the amended exemption
provides protection to "any individual when disclosure of information about
him or her "could reasonably be expected to endanger [his/her] life or
physical safety."
(b)(8)
EXEMPTION 8 Records of Financial Institutions.
This exemption covers matters that are "contained in or related to
examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for
the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial
institutions."
(b)(9)
EXEMPTION 9 Geographical and Geophysical Information Concerning Wells.
This exemption covers "geological and geophysical information and
data, including maps, concerning wells.
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