292.6—FOIA exemptions.
The following type of records may be withheld in whole or in part from public disclosure unless otherwise prescribed by law.
(a) Exemption (b)(1).
Those properly and currently classified in the interest of national defense or foreign policy, as specifically authorized under the criteria established by Executive Order and implemented by regulations, such as DoD 5200.1-R. 4 Although material may not be classified at the time of the FOIA request, a classification review may be undertaken to determine whether the information should be classified. The procedures outlined in DIAR 50-2 5 regarding classification apply. In addition, this exemption shall be invoked when the following situations are apparent:
Code of Federal Regulations
Footnote(s): 4 See footnote 1 to § 292.3(a)(3) .
Code of Federal Regulations
Footnote(s): 5 Forward requests to: Defense Intelligence Agency, ATTN: DSP-1A (FOIA), Washington, DC 20340-3299.
(1)
The fact of the existence or nonexistence of a record would itself reveal classified information. In this situation, DIA shall neither confirm or deny the existence or nonexistence of the record being requested. A “refusal to confirm or deny” response must be used consistently, not only when a record exists, but also when a record does not exist. Otherwise, the pattern of using a “no record” response when a record does not exist, and a “refusal to confirm or deny” when a record does exist will itself disclose national security information.
(2)
Information that concerns one or more of the classification categories established by Executive Order and DoD 5200.1-R shall be classified if its unauthorized disclosure, either by itself or in the context of other information, reasonably could be expected to cause damage to the national security.
(b) Exemption (b)(2).
Those containing or constituting rules, regulations, orders, manuals, directives, and instructions relating to the internal personnel rules or practices of the DIA if their release to the public would substantially hinder the effective performance of a significant function of the Department of Defense, and they do not impose requirements directly on the general public. This exemption has two profiles, high (b)(2) and low (b)(2).
(1)
Records qualifying under high (b)(2) are those containing or constituting, rules, regulations, orders, manuals, directives, and instructions the release of which would allow circumvention of these records thereby substantially hindering the effective performance of a significant function of the Department of Defense.
(2)
Records qualifying under the low (b)(2) profile are those that are trivial and housekeeping in nature for which there is no legitimate public interest or benefit to be gained by release, and it would constitute an administrative burden to process the request in order to disclose the records.
(c) Exemption (b)(3).
Those concerning matters that a statute specifically exempts from disclosure by terms that permit no discretion on the issue, or in accordance with criteria established by that statute for withholding or referring to particular types of matters to be withheld.
(d) Exemption (b)(4).
(1)
Those containing trade secrets or commercial or financial information that the DIA receives from a person or organization outside the Government with the understanding that the information or record will be retained on a privileged or confidential basis in accordance with the customary handling of such records. Records within the exemption must contain trade secrets or commercial or financial records the disclosure of which is likely to cause substantial harm to the competitive position of the source providing the information, impair the Government's ability to obtain necessary information in the future, or impair some other legitimate Governmental interest.
(2)
When a request is received for a record that was obtained or provided by a non-U.S. Government source, the source of the record or information (also known as “the submitter” for matters pertaining to proprietary data) shall be notified promptly of that request and afforded reasonable time (e.g. 30 calendar days) to present any objections concerning the release, unless it is clear that there can be no valid basis for objection. This practice is required for those FOIA requests for data not deemed clearly exempt from disclosure under Exemption (b)(4). For further guidance, see DoD 5400.7-R, paragraph 5-207.
(e) Exemption (b)(5).
Those concerning internal advice, recommendations, and subjective evaluations, as contrasted with factual matters, that are reflected in records pertaining to the decision-making process of an agency, whether within or among agencies or within or among DoD components. Also exempted are records pertaining to the attorney-client privilege and the attorney work-product privilege.
(f) Exemption (b)(6).
Information in personnel and medical files, as well as similar personal information in other files, that, if disclosed to the requester, would result in a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Release of information about an individual contained in a Privacy Act system of records that would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy is prohibited, and could subject the releaser to civil and criminal penalties.
(g) Exemption (b)(7).
Records or information compiled for the purpose of enforcing civil, criminal, or military law, including the implementation of Executive Orders or regulations issued pursuant to law, but only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement records or information
(3)
Could constitute an unwarranted invasion of the personal privacy of others (also see DoD 5400.7-R, paragraph 3-200, Number 7 a. 3. (a)-(c)).
(6)
Could endanger the life or physical safety of law enforcement personnel. This exemption may be invoked to prevent disclosure of documents not originally created for, but later gathered for, law enforcement purposes.