Department of Veterans Affairs

Most recent quarterly backlog

4,876

End of FY2025 Q4 (Jul 1 – Sep 30, 2025)

Latest annual report

4,998

End of FY2025 (Sept 30, 2025)

18-year change

-16%

FY2008 → FY2025 (Oct 1, 2007 – Sept 30, 2025)

Annual backlog, FY2008–FY2025

Pending requests at end of each fiscal year (Oct 1, 2007 – Sept 30, 2025). Federal fiscal year runs Oct 1 – Sept 30, named for the year it ends.

FY08: 5,979

FY10: 1,385

FY12: 1,441

FY14: 2,443

FY16: 4,473

FY18: 6,072

FY20: 4,206

FY22: 2,307

FY24: 2,684

FY25: 4,998

Dashed verticals mark presidential inaugurations.

A note on the figures. Annual and quarterly numbers don’t mean the same thing.

Annual report

Window: full fiscal year, Oct 1 through Sept 30.
Coverage: intended for every reporting agency; the current FY2025 bulk release contains 117 agency-overall reports.
Detail: received, processed, pending, exemption counts (b1–b9), ten oldest, personnel, costs.
“Pending” means: every request still open at year-end, regardless of age.
Freshness: six to nine months after fiscal year end. Latest published is FY2025.

Quarterly report

Window: three months. The latest quarter is shown in the sitewide freshness banner.
Coverage: larger agencies only. About 95 filed before the Trump 2 reporting cliff. DHS filed through FY2025 Q3, then stopped.
Detail: received, processed, backlogged. Three numbers only.
“Backlogged” means:perfected requests open more than 20 working days. Stricter than annual “pending.”
Freshness: usually about six weeks after quarter end.

Why we keep them on separate views.The two “pending” counts use different denominators, so plotting them on a single continuous timeline would misrepresent the underlying change. Within each series, comparisons are clean — quarter-over-quarter, year-over-year. Across series, only the direction of change is comparable, not the magnitude.

Recent quarterly activity

Last 17 quarters of received, processed, and backlog. Most recent: FY2025 Q4 (Jul 1 – Sep 30, 2025).

Backlog

4,876

Received per quarter

26,633

Processed per quarter

37,373

10 oldest pending requests, end of FY2025 (Sept 30, 2025)

Agencies report days pending in working days, counted from the day the request was received; the years column converts to calendar years. The longer this list runs, the more litigation-ripe the agency’s backlog.

Rank	Date received	Working days pending	Years pending
#1	2022-11-04	723	2.9
#2	2022-11-25	710	2.8
#3	2023-03-20	633	2.5
#4	2023-03-31	624	2.5
#5	2023-09-28	499	2.0
#6	2023-12-27	439	1.8
#7	2024-01-08	432	1.7
#8	2024-02-12	408	1.6
#9	2024-03-01	395	1.6
#10	2024-05-03	350	1.4

Exemption invocations, FY2025 (Oct 1, 2024 – Sept 30, 2025)

How often each FOIA exemption (b1–b9) was invoked when redacting or denying records. Exemption 5 (deliberative process, attorney-client) is highlighted — it’s the most-fought exemption in FOIA litigation.

FOIA staffing, FY2025 (Oct 1, 2024 – Sept 30, 2025)

Full-time employees

Equivalent FTE

194.2

Total FTE

235.2

Annual report history

FY	Received	Processed	Pending end
FY2025	124,435	123,103	4,998
FY2024	105,725	119,453	2,684
FY2023	79,590	72,403	9,614
FY2022	22,542	24,343	2,307
FY2021	27,762	30,227	3,316
FY2020	19,053	19,323	4,206
FY2019	21,336	23,749	3,654
FY2018	24,555	22,851	6,072
FY2017	24,176	25,237	4,062
FY2016	34,459	33,313	4,473
FY2015	29,716	30,436	1,722
FY2014	28,009	27,982	2,443
FY2013	25,647	26,376	1,770
FY2012	24,423	24,785	1,441
FY2011	27,655	27,891	1,537
FY2010	29,127	28,857	1,385
FY2009	69,432	71,487	2,677
FY2008	99,333	98,455	5,979

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