‘Please hold for the next 20 years …’

The federal Freedom of Information Act celebrated its 40th anniversary on the Fourth of July. But those seeking data or documents from federal agencies are still encountering delays, despite a 2005 order by President Bush to clear the backlog.

Delays of 60 days? Ninety days?

You’re not even thinking on the proper scale for our estimable federal bureaucracy.

A new study released Monday found one requester has been waiting 20 years for the State Department to produce documents that deal with the Church of Scientology.

Two more requests — still unanswered — were made in 1988, three in 1989, according to the survey, conducted by the National Security Archive, a private research group at George Washington University.

Five agencies — the State Department, Air Force, CIA, the Justice Department’s criminal division and the FBI — still haven’t answered some requests made 15 or more years ago, the archive found.

The latest study, funded in part by grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, concluded backlogs are “out of control.” For most federal agencies, meeting the law’s deadline for a response in 20 business days “is an exception rather than a standard practice,” the researchers found.

The archives sent out a request for data on FOIA request backlogs to 57 agencies on Jan. 29. Among their findings:

— Only four agencies reported no backlogs: the Small Business Administration, Army Department Materiel Command, Naval Education and Training Command and Labor Department Employee Benefits Security Administration.

— Twelve agencies still have not provided information requested more than 10 years ago.

— Ten agencies misreported their oldest pending FOIA request to Congress in annual reports required by law. In addition to the FBI, the CIA, the Air Force, the Director of National Intelligence, the National Science Foundation and the State and Treasury departments (surprised?), one of those agencies was the Justice Department’s Office of Information and Privacy … which is supposed to provide government-wide guidance on FOIA compliance.

(The Justice Department denied misreporting the Office of Information and Privacy’s oldest pending request, explaining it used the date the request was received — Feb. 5, 2002 — rather than the date it was sent — Oct. 22, 2001. Justice Department mail was subject to lengthy off-site screening in late 2001 and early 2002 because of concerns over anthrax contamination.)

One-third of the agencies have not responded. Twelve agencies still have not responded to the archive’s 2005 request for similar data.

In response, Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, are sponsoring yet another “OPEN Government Act,” supposedly compelling agencies to more accurately track their pending requests.

But, citing Justice Department objections, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., promptly put a hold on the bill, blocking a Senate floor vote.

The Justice Department objects to a provision that would require agencies to pay attorney fees for requesters even if the agency settles through a lawsuit.

But the need for such a provision is obvious. Righteous plaintiffs at least deserve a chance to have their attorneys’ fees paid if they prevail. It would be a considerable disincentive to bring such an action if even those plaintiffs whose cases proved to be “slam-dunks” could be left on the hook for costs if stonewalling bureaucrats decided to settle at the last minute.

The real problem here is that bureaucrats face no personal penalty for sealing a FOIA request in an envelope, burying it at the top of an Alaskan glacier and waiting for it to come out the other end.

New laws certainly wouldn’t hurt. But Congress should also consider enforcing any edicts by reducing the actual budgets (not the rate of growth; the actual budgets) of scofflaw agencies and departments by 2 percent per year till they stop using Freedom of Information requests to line their bird cages.