Mission Statement:
Provide the Secretary of Energy and senior DOE Managers with the efficient processing of (1) directives, (2) Freedom of Information Act requests (FOIA) and (3) Privacy Act requests; the development and implementation of related policies and procedures; and, the management of the information from these three programs on the Department’s websites.

Directives Program
The Directives program is the means by which the Department of energy (DOE) defines policies, requirements, and responsibilities as well as promotes safe, secure, efficient, cost-effective DOE operations conducted in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, Executive orders, and technical standards.  The program manages the development and publishing of directives, which include Policies, Orders and Guides.  

FOIA Office
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program is administered at DOE Headquarters by the Office of Information Resources.  The FOIA provides that any individual may request and obtain an agency record unless it is exempt from disclosure by the Act. 

In December 2005, the President issued Executive Order 13,392 entitled “Improving Agency Disclosure of Information.”  The Executive Order established an approach to the administration of the Freedom of Information Act that was “citizen-centered” and “results oriented.”  The Executive Order required agencies to appoint a senior official who would serve as the Chief FOIA Officer for the Department.  Currently, Ingrid Kolb, Director, Office of Management, has been designated as the Chief FOIA Officer for the Department.  The Executive Order also required each agency to conduct a review of its FOIA operations, to develop an agency-specific plan to improve its administration of the Act, and to include it its annual FOIA report a description of its progress in meeting the milestones and goals established in its improvement plan.  To date, the Department has met all of the goals established in the plan.

Privacy Office
The Department’s Privacy program serves to protect an individual’s privacy while achieving the mission of the Department.  It is the steward of the Privacy Act of 1974, the E-Government Act of 2002 and numerous laws, Executive Orders, court decisions and DOE policies that protect the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information. 

The Privacy program includes the publishing of notices of its systems of record in the Federal Register and to republish those that have changed as required by the Privacy Act of 1974.  More recently, the E-Government Act of 2002 requires a variety of additional Privacy activities to include: conducting Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA) for systems that collects, maintains, or disseminates personally identifiable information; to conduct privacy policy and compliance reviews; and to train employees and contractors about their responsibility to protect personal information.