• Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) – link to the full text of the Act at the Department of Justice website.
• FOIA Regulations – The Corps of Engineers is subject to DoD and Army FOIA Regulations:
  • Department of Defense Freedom of Information Act Regulations, DoD 5400.7-R (Sep 1998); 32 CFR Part 286 – link to the Department of Defense's FOIA website.
  • Department of the Army Freedom of Information Act Regulations, 32 CFR Part 518, 22 Feb 2006 – link to the Department of Army's FOIA website.
  Helpful FOIA Links
  • Department of the Army FOIA Website
  • Department of Defense FOIA Website
  • Department of Justice/FOIA Website
  • A Citizen's Guide to FOIA – House Committee on Government Reform guide to both the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act.
  Privacy Act Information
  • The Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, as amended
  • Overview of the Privacy Act of 1974
  Other Useful Resources
  • USACE FOIA Annual Reports
  • Army Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room
  • Federal Register
  • Code of Federal Regulations
  • Public and Private Laws

For additional assistance in submitting a request, see the Army Citizen's Guide or the Department of Defense’s FOIA Handbook. The Guide and the Handbook provide advice on the rules of the FOIA and how to submit a FOIA request to Army and Defense Department Agencies.

Please submit written requests to one of the following for local FOIA requests:

For General Questions regarding the FOIA process, please call or e-mail the Honolulu District Office at: (808) 835-4428 or foia-poh@usace.army.mil.

You may file an appeal if you are not satisfied with a FOIA Office's initial response. You should be advised of your right to file an appeal in the initial denial/determination letter sent by the FOIA Office. Ordinarily, your appeal must be received within 60 days of the date of the component's determination letter. All appeals must be made in writing and addressed to the local FOIA Office. That Office will prepare an appeal package to send through the FOIA Program Office to the Army General Counsel. Both the front of the envelope and the appeal letter should contain the notation "Freedom of Information Act Appeal." There is no specific form or particular language needed to file an appeal.

You may explain the reason or reasons why you disagree with the component's action, but a simple statement that you are appealing the decision is normally sufficient. If, however, you are appealing because you believe there are additional records that have not been located in response to your request, you should specify why you think such records exist and, if possible, where you believe they might be located.

Requests should be submitted to the FOIA Office for the Corps of Engineers division, district, center or laboratory that you believe has the documents you are seeking. See the FOIA Office list.  Each of these FOIA Offices process requests for their own records. Directing your request to the local office that has the documents you want, will speed up our response to your request.

Requests must be in writing, and should include the notation "Freedom of Information Act Request" on the front of the envelope and also at the beginning of the letter. No special form is required for a FOIA request, but a Sample request is provided in the Defense Department FOIA Handbook. Electronic requests are permitted unless a signature is required, such as a request for records subject to the Privacy Act. Electronic requests should include the notation "Freedom of Information Act Request" in the subject.

Requests must state a willingness to pay the applicable fees and must describe the documents requested in sufficient detail to allow the FOIA Office to locate them with a reasonable amount of effort. In making a request you should be as specific as possible with regard to names, titles, dates, places, events, subjects, recipients, type of document, the offices likely to maintain the documents, etc.

A FOIA request can be made for any agency document. This does not mean, however, that all documents will be disclosed. There are statutory exemptions that authorize the withholding of information of a sensitive nature. Additionally, you should be aware that the FOIA does not require FOIA Offices to do research for you, to analyze data, to answer written questions, or to create records in order to respond to a request.

When a FOIA Office receives your FOIA request, it will ordinarily send you a letter acknowledging the request. If you do not provide the necessary information, the Office will advise you of what additional information is required before further processing your request.

In order to protect your privacy as well as the privacy of others, whenever you request information about yourself you will be asked to provide either a notarized statement or a statement signed under penalty of perjury stating that you are the person that you say you are

Under the FOIA statute, Corps of Engineer FOIA Offices are to respond to a FOIA request within twenty business days. This time period does not begin until the request is perfected, as discussed in the DoD and Army FOIA Regulations. Additionally, subject to the new time limits in the OPEN Government Act of 2007, the time period will not begin until actually received by the FOIA Office that maintains the documents sought.

Some FOIA Offices receive hundreds of requests each year. Many of these requests require a detailed review of hundreds or even thousands of pages of documents. Although the Corps of Engineers makes every effort to respond to FOIA requests as quickly as possible, in some cases it simply cannot do so within the specified time period. This may be due either to the size of the request, the location of the documents or to the fact that the Office has a backlog of previously received requests that are awaiting processing.