299.3—Policy.
(a)
Pursuant to written requests submitted in accordance with the FOIA, the NSA/CSS shall make records available to the public consistent with the Act and the need to protect government interests pursuant to subsection (b) of the Act. Oral requests for information shall not be accepted. Before the Agency responds to a request, the request must comply with the provisions of this part. In order that members of the public have timely access to unclassified information regarding NSA activities, requests for information that would not be withheld if requested under the FOIA or the Privacy Act (PA) may be honored through appropriate means without requiring the requester to invoke the FOIA or the PA. Although a record may require minimal redaction before its release, this fact alone shall not require the Agency to direct the requester to submit a formal FOIA or PA request for the record.
(b)
Requests for electronic records shall be processed, and the records retrieved whenever retrieval can be achieved through reasonable efforts (in terms of both time and manpower) and these efforts would not significantly interfere with the operation of an automated information system. Reasonable efforts shall be undertaken to maintain records in forms of formats that render electronic records readily reproducible.
(c)
The NSA/CSS does not originate final orders, opinions, statements of policy, interpretations, staff manuals, or instructions that affect members of the public of the type generally covered by the indexing requirement of 5 U.S.C. 552. Therefore, it has been determined, pursuant to the pertinent statutory and executive order requirements, that it is unnecessary and impracticable to publish an index of the type required by 5 U.S.C. 552. However, should such material be identified, it will be indexed and placed in the library at the National Cryptologic Museum (NCM), which serves as the NSA/CSS FOIA reading room, and made available through the Internet. Copies of records which have been released under the FOIA and which NSA/CSS has determined are likely to become the subject of subsequent requests will be placed in the library of the NCM. In addition, these records are made available to the public through the Internet. An index of this material is available in hard copy in the museum library and on the Internet.