Workers don’t look for any information when people request data on themselves because the NSA FOIA office doesn’t have access to surveillance files, she said. She also explained that the agency doesn’t confirm or deny if they have records on individuals because it doesn’t want to tip off surveillance targets.
“We know we’re dealing with frustrated people and people who are upset by what they’re hearing,” Phillips said. “But that’s the only response that we’re able to provide them on that topic.”
Phillips estimates that her office will continue to get a lot of requests.
In 2006, the office saw a two-week spike of 500 or 800 requests with news of the NSA’s terrorist surveillance program, she said. A year and half ago, there was a 200-request spike when a TV program mentioned a NSA surveillance program.
This time, Snowden’s leaks have caused a months-long spike that seems only to be intensifying. The NSA has declassified some information and is working on releasing more, Phillips said.
“It just confirms that in the case of the NSA, leaks work,” said Nate Jones, FOIA coordinator with the National Security Archive, a non-profit research institution. “They don’t release anything through normal means. The only way the public really learns about them is through leaks.”
Article Appeared @http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/17/nsa-grapples-with-988-increase-in-open-records-requests/3519889/