§70.3. Presumption of openness.

All agency records, except those exempt from mandatory disclosure by one or more provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552(b) or the law enforcement exclusions in 5 U.S.C. 552(c), will be made promptly available to any person submitting a written request in accordance with the procedures of this part. The Department will withhold records under the FOIA only when the Department reasonably foresees that disclosure would harm an interest protected by a FOIA exemption or is prohibited by law. Whenever the Department determines that full disclosure of a requested record is not possible, the Department will consider whether partial disclosure is possible and will take reasonable steps to segregate and release nonexempt material. As set forth in Sec. 70.4, the Department proactively identifies and discloses records of interest to the public.