fully not, to comment with respect to the guidelines on its overview and just what they constitute. I can either try and get that information for you, or refer you to a proper party either in the Department or in the Bureau. But I know the guidelines have been established, sir, and that there is going to be an overview by the Department to insure that instances such as you are referring to in the past will not occur again in the future. I cannot respond to what has gone on, we are only trying to look ahead as to how we may rectify what may have been wrong in the past.

Mr. DRINAN. On the financing of this, Clarence Kelley said that I owed him $8.10. Have you collected from everybody?

Mr. POWERS. Yes. We charge 10 cents a page, unless the individual shows indigency.

Mr. DRINAN. How many don't pay? It was a very sloppy way of collecting it from me. I could have forgotten about it. I don't think anybody would have checked up.

Mr. POWERS. Well, the system that is in effect now is that the documents are not sent until the money is received first.

Mr. DRINAN. How much money comes in?

Mr. POWERS. I have not totaled it up. I have the figures by months. Mr. DRINAN. What do you do up there if you don't total up the sum? That is sort of essential. You say you need 220 people. How much comes in? Give me a ballpark figure.

Mr. POWERS. I am going to say perhaps I can give you a figure in just a very few minutes on that, because I have it by month, and it would just be a matter of taking a look and totaling it up. And we have our Finance and Personnel Division which keeps an accounting of all moneys received in connection with FOIPA requests.

Mr. DRINAN. Is it insignificant in relation to the cost of this program?

Mr. POWERS. It certainly is, that I can say without any doubt. Mr. DRINAN. Do you think, sir, that a year from now we will have another hearing like this and I will still be annoyed at the backlog that is still there?

Mr. POWERS. No sir.

Mr. DRINAN. What is your prediction? What is the probability? Can I tell a constituent when I have an angry letter about the FBI, can I tell him this afternoon that I have assurance from the highest official in the Department of Justice that within 6 months or 1 year there is not going to be any backlog?

Mr. POWERS. Well, not any backlog, sir, I can't promise that.

Mr. DRINAN. That is the essential request; that is why we called you together. If you can't promote that, then I have to weigh your testimony as zero. We, as the Oversight Committee, want the FBI to comply with the law insofar as possible. You are saying that you have no plans to get rid of the backlog; that is the way you talk to me. Mr. POWERS. That is not entirely fair, that we have no plan. Mr. DRINAN. Will it have disappeared substantially in 1 year? Mr. POWERS. Substantially, I believe so, in the absence of something like that which occurred in June, when we received 3,357 requests, in the absence of that

Mr. DRINAN. I think you should expect more requests, right? Because everybody is telling people, yes, you ought to get your FBI file.

Why should they keep a file? When they see that the second highest guy in the FBI, a guy who is now in the papers this morning, engaged in dirty tricks to harass and discredit alleged political radicals you are going to have a lot of new requests. I am certain. So it is going to go up. Is that the intention of the FOIPA?

Mr. POWERS. Well, with the experience that we are gaining, with many of the problems that we had initially being resolved, with the increasing complement, and with the acquisition of more space, perhaps some mundane things, but just from an administrative standpoint, and the actual processing of documents, that is, how the information is actually taken out, and improvement in that area, with the expertise gained by the personnel that have been here, I truthfully, I sincerely, hopefully believe that there will be a substantial reduction in the backlog. But whether it will be a complete reduction in the backlog, that I cannot promise, because there are a number of factors

Mr. DRINAN. Mr. Powers, if you don't have a plan, we are going to impose a plan, right? If you don't have a plan to phase out this backlog over the year the Congress will have to insist upon something. Mr. POWERS. I believe that we have a plan.

Mr. DRINAN. What is the plan? I don't hear a plan.

Mr. POWERS. With our increase in personnel and the experience that has been gained, the continuing move to expedite the actual processing of the documents, the plan all revolves around that. There is no dramatic thing that I can suggest to do it.

Mr. DRINAN. Mr. Powers, 8,400 Americans right now, who have filed, have been waiting for months-8,400. What is the phaseout plan; 800 a month, 1,000 a month, 2,000 a month? Take your choice. I want action within a year, and I want to be able to tell this constituent, a very important lawyer, that you said or you didn't say, Mr. Powers, that within a year you will have retired these 8,400. I don't want equivocation, I want a categorical answer. If you say you can't promise that, I will tell him that, and he will be indignant. I and the Congress will say that we will try to impose a plan because you cannot meet the basic requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.

Mr. POWERS. I am sorry, I cannot give you a promise.

Mr. DRINAN. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. EDWARDS. The gentleman from Connecticut.

Mr. DODD. I have an opening statement, Mr. Chairman, that I won't read

Mr. EDWARDS. It will be made a part of the record, Mr. Dodd. [The statement referred to follows:]

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, SUBCOMMITTEE ON CIVIL AND CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS, JULY 29, 1976

I want to thank you, Mr. Powers, and your associates, for coming before this body today to provide us with some information on the problems the FBI is experiencing with respect to the processing of Freedom of Information and Privacy Act requests. I am confident that you and your staff share my concern and frustration about the delays which are occurring in the processing of these requests, and I look forward to working with you to find the best ways to cope with this problem.

It is my opinion that there have been few legislative initiatives that have sparked the enthusiasm and controversy that has emerged since enactment of the Freedom of Information Act Amendments and the Privacy Act; the basic concept

is very sound, and it is incumbent upon us to make the Acts work as they were intended.

Several of my own constituents, who have submitted requests for access to information they believe is contained in FBI files, have found it wholly unreasonable to be told that it will take nine months for the processing to begin, I would have to agree that not only is this delay unreasonable, it is totally unacceptable in view of the statutory requirement for processing new requests within ten days of receipt.

Perhaps the most malignant aspect of these delays is that they perpetuate the public's fear of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The revelations of the FBI's illegal domestic counter-intelligence activities, and their invasion of people's privacy and abuse of civil rights, has left an unfortunate atmosphereone which must be cleared. Long delays in responding on Freedom of Information and Privacy Act requests tend to give the impression-real or imagined—that the FBI is "stonewalling"-intentionally withholding material that might prove embarrassing.

I am sure that you are as interested as I in eliminating all basis for this view. In order to find the most effective ways of coping with the influx of requests, and eliminating the present, unacceptable nine month backlog, several of my colleagues on this Subcommittee, and on the House Government Operations Subcommittee on Government Information and Individual Rights, have joined me in asking the General Accounting Office to look into the matter and make legisłative and administrative recommendations. This study, in concert with hearings by this Sucommittee and your cooperation, should provide an effective vehicle for defining the problems and planning corrective measures.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. DODD. The current backlog indicated to the committee is totally unacceptable. And I suppose that the most serious question one would raise to the backlog is not so much the inconvenience to the requester, but what this could mean in the minds of the people that are making the request for information in terms of the feeling about our intelligence community. So I would certainly hope that every effort will be made to bring the backlog up to date.

Let me ask you a serious question, if I may. You know, I presume, that some of us on this committee and the Government Operations Committee have requested the General Accounting Office to conduct a study of the FBI process, its practice in responding to the freedom of information request. I wonder if you might tell us whether or not the records that you keep are in such a manner that would enable the General Accounting Office to determine the time spent at each step of the process of responding to FOIA?

Mr. POWERS. Yes, I believe so.

Mr. DODD. Then you will be able to determine that based on the records you keep?

Mr. POWERS. Yes, sir.

Mr. DODD. I received, as did Father Drinan, quite a few letters from constituents. Would the present backlog of FOIPA requests to the FBI be eliminated with the present staff? I wasn't sure of your response. Would the present staff of the FOIPA section be able to cope with the current influx of-what is it-the 55 or 60 requests you are getting a day?

Mr. POWERS. Yes, it would.

Mr. DODD. You feel you would be able to handle it?

Mr. POWERS. I do.

And if I may-and perhaps I am doing a disservice to the section which I am here representing today when we are talking about delayI can understand the concern of those who have written in and have not received a prompt response. I share that concern. We are con

cerned also. And I certainly don't want to leave any impression that we enjoy or that we are being dilatory for any other reason other than just an overwhelming number of requests. We are trying to do what we can and making a sincere effort. And we would be in a much better position in the FBI if we were able to respond within 1 day or 2, depending on the volume of requests. As a general rule it goes right back on a no-record response. I look forward to that day. Certainly that is what we are striving for within the section. And I don't want to leave any impression that what we are doing right now is intentional, because it certainly hurts us, there is no question about that.

Mr. DODD. I understand that, Mr. Powers. I know you don't want to leave that impression. But unfortunately the impression exists. And something has got to be done about it.

I wonder if you might tell me whether or not you have a system by which at the time of initial request there is an immediate examination of the files to determine whether or not any information exists on that individual or not, an instant check, or preliminary instant check?

Mr. POWERS. Yes; to determine whether there is or is not a record. And if there is no record, then we do respond to that individual, and so tell him.

Mr. DODD. How long does that take? Suppose you take a request and find out there is nothing there, how much time does that take?

Mr. POWERS. We are trying to do that within 10 days. And we have reorganization underway now that will improve that so that we can do it in 1 day or 2. Because the volume of mail being received, not only with requests but everything attendant thereto, with the increase in personnel we hope to reorganize and have a group or unit doing nothing but just responding to that incoming mail.

Mr. DODD. What I am getting at, if you make an examination initially of the various files-and there are some 59 million headings, I understand

Mr. POWERS. When a request comes in, and we make a search and there is no record that

Mr. DODD. Is there an initial preliminary search?

Mr. POWERS. Yes, that is the first step.

Mr. DODD. Not going into the specifics of what the information is? Mr. POWERS. Right.

Mr. DODD. How long a time does it take?

Mr. POWERS. Just a few days to make that initial search, and then a few days to get the communication back to the individual.

Mr. DODD. Of the 14,500 or so requests made to the FBI in 1975, do you have any indication of how many of those requests indicated that there was no information at all on the individual request?

Mr. POWERS. We have gone over-and of the total number of requests-I don't know the particular number during that year, but of the total number of requests-there are about 24,000 or 25.000-about one-third was a no record.

Mr. DODD. According to the Department of Justice Annual Report dated March 15, 1976, the FBI received 14,000-plus FOIPA requests during the calendar year 1975. Did you mean you received actually more than that, but these were the only ones there was information on? Mr. POWERS. No. Of the 13,875 received during calendar year 1975. about one-third had no record.

Mr. DODD. Do you have any indication as to how it is going to be this year?

Mr. POWERS. Yes. Quite heavy. In fact, we averaged about 55 a day in 1975, and we are averaging about 73 a day this year, which is not really a true figure, because we had two extremely heavy weeks in June. The average was running about the same, about 55 a day this year. But the two heavy weeks we had in June upped that average considerably. There is an exhibit that states that, and it gives the receipts by week.

Mr. DODD. This would indicate, then, that this is not something that is going to die away. What did you attribute that to? Do you think this is an indication of the kind of load that you will expect as more and more people become aware of their right to have access to this information? Or do you think this figure is going to stabilize and level out and top off?

Mr. POWERS. Well, I would anticipate that the number of requests would decline at some unforeseen time in the future. I would anticipate, based on last year, and the receipts this year, other than those 2 weeks, that they would have averaged at about 55 a day.

Mr. DODD. That the theory under which the FBI is operating, that this is going to drop off, that the people are just taking advantage of something that is new, and when the interest dies down that the requests will die down, is that the presumption that exists at the FBI, overall, about the act?

Mr. POWERS. Well, the assignment of personnel that we have to the section is on the assumption that the caseload is going to continue as it is right now, other than those 2 weeks at the rate of 55 a day. We can handle that and make a good inroad into the backlog. And then if anything in the future happens so that the requests decline

Mr. DODD. Is that just your personal guess, or is that a philosophy which exists in the FBI for the future?

Mr. POWERS. Our philosophy is to assign personnel to do the job as indicated by the number that we have assigned. If the requests drop off to nothing for the month of August, it would allow us to get into the backlog that much more deeply.

Mr. DODD. What I am trying to get at is this. If the attitude is such in the FBI today that this is something that is only going to go on for another, maybe, 4 or 5 years, and after that this thing will die down, the people aren't going to bother with the requests-and that indicates a certain kind of procedure to handle this kind of load that exists today-if the attitude is such that one believes that this is going to be a continuing situation, where people are going to make requests and more and more people become aware of this act, then you have to apply the standard and set up a procedure for a long-running operation in the future.

Mr. POWERS. With the amount of personnel it hasn't been the idea or belief that it is going to die out. It will not for a long, long time. And if it were not, we would not have assigned the substantial amount of personnel that we have to it. This will be with us for a long, long time, there is no doubt in my mind. And that is our feeling and philosophy and belief in the Bureau, we just don't foresee at any time in the future that it will die.

Mr. DODD. Correct me if I am wrong, but as I understand it now,