(a) Authority to grant or deny requests. The DFC President and CEO or designee is authorized to grant or to deny any requests for records.
(b) Consultation, referral, and coordination. When reviewing records responsive to a request, DFC will determine whether another agency of the Federal Government is better able to determine whether the record is exempt from disclosure under the FOIA. As to any such record, DFC will proceed in one of the following ways:
(1) Consultation. When records originated with DFC, but contain within them information of interest to another agency or other Federal Government office, DFC will typically consult with that other entity prior to making a release determination.
(2) Referral. (i) When DFC believes that a different agency is best able to determine whether to disclose the record, DFC will typically refer the responsibility for responding to the request regarding that record to that agency. Ordinarily, the agency that originated the record is presumed to be the best agency to make the disclosure determination. However, if DFC and the originating agency jointly agree that DFC is in the best position to respond regarding the record, then the record may be handled as a consultation.
(ii) Whenever DFC refers any part of the responsibility for responding to a request to another agency, it will document the referral, maintain a copy of the record that it refers, and notify the requester of the referral, informing the requester of the name(s) of the agency to which the record was referred, including that agency's FOIA contact information.
(3) Coordination. The standard referral procedure is not appropriate where disclosure of the identity of the agency to which the referral would be made could harm an interest protected by an applicable exemption, such as the exemptions that protect personal privacy or national security interests. For example, if in responding to a request for records on a living third party, DFC locates within its files records originating with a law enforcement agency, and if the existence of that law enforcement interest in the third party was not publicly known, then to disclose that law enforcement interest could cause an unwarranted invasion of the personal privacy of the third party. Similarly, if DFC locates within its files material originating with an Intelligence Community agency, and the involvement of that agency in the matter is classified and not publicly acknowledged, then to disclose or give attribution to the involvement of that Intelligence Community agency could cause national security harms. In such instances, in order to avoid harm to an interest protected by an applicable exemption, DFC should coordinate with the originating agency to seek its views on the disclosability of the record. The release determination for the record that is the subject of the coordination should then be conveyed to the requester by DFC.
(c) Classified information. On receipt of any request involving a record containing information that has been classified or may be appropriate for classification by another agency under any applicable executive order concerning the classification of records, DFC must refer the responsibility for responding to the request to the agency that classified the information, or that should consider the information for classification. Whenever DFC's record contains information that has been derivatively classified (for example, when it contains information classified by another agency), DFC must refer the responsibility for responding to that portion of the request to the agency that classified the underlying information.
(d) Timing of responses to consultations and referrals. All consultations and referrals will be handled according to the date that the first agency received the perfected FOIA request.
(e) Agreements regarding consultations and referrals. DFC may establish agreements with other agencies to eliminate the need for consultations or referrals with respect to particular types of records.