(a) In general. When the Chief FOIA Officer first receives a request for a record and SSS maintains that record, it is the responsibility of SSS to respond to the request. In determining which records are responsive to a request, SSS ordinarily will include only records in its possession as of the date that it begins its search. If any other date is used, SSS will inform the requester of that date. A record that is excluded from the requirements of the FOIA pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552(c), is not considered responsive to a request.
(b) Authority to grant or deny requests. The Chief FOIA Officer is authorized to grant or to deny any requests for records that are maintained by SSS. Denials may be appealed to the Director of the Selective Service.
(c) Consultation, referral, and coordination. When reviewing records located by SSS in response to a request, the Chief FOIA Officer 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, the Agency must proceed in one of the following ways:
(1) Consultation. When records originated with SSS but contain within them information of interest to another agency or other Federal Government office, SSS will consult with that other entity prior to making a release determination.
(2) Referral. (i) When the Chief FOIA Officer believes that a different agency or component is best able to determine whether to disclose the record, the Chief FOIA Officer will 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 the Chief FOIA Officer and the originating agency jointly agree that SSS is in the best position to respond regarding the record, then the record may be handled as a consultation.
(ii) Whenever the Chief FOIA Officer 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 a non-law enforcement agency responding to a request for records on a living third party locates within its file's 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 the Chief FOIA Officer locates within its files material originating from 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, the Chief FOIA Officer will coordinate with the originating agency to seek its views on whether the record may be disclosed. The release determination for the record that is the subject of the coordination will then be conveyed to the requester by the Chief FOIA Officer.
(d) Classified information. On receipt of any request involving classified information, the Chief FOIA Officer must determine whether the information is currently and properly classified in accordance with applicable classification rules. Whenever a request involves 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, the Chief FOIA Officer will refer the responsibility for responding to the request regarding that information to the agency that classified the information, or that should consider the information for classification. Whenever the record of SSS contains information that has been derivatively classified (for example, when it contains information classified by another agency), the Chief FOIA Officer will refer the responsibility for responding to that portion of the request to the agency that classified the underlying information.
(e) Timing of responses to consultations and referrals. All consultations and referrals received by the Chief FOIA Officer will be handled according to the date that SSS received the perfected FOIA request.
(f) Agreements regarding consultations and referrals. The Chief FOIA Officer may establish agreements with other agencies to eliminate the need for consultations or referrals with respect to particular types of records.