The Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requires courts to balance the rights of citizens to gain access to information that their federal government collects against the privacy interests of individuals and government employees discussed in the same information. Appellant Steven E. Perlman sought to exercise his FOIA rights when he requested a copy of a report investigating allegations of misconduct in the operatiоn of an Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) program, focusing in large part on the actions of Paul Virtue, former INS general counsel. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (John G. Koeltl, J.) upheld the agency’s decision to withhold the majority of the information in the report because it would violate Virtue’s right to privacy. On appeal, Perlman argues that (1) the district court erred in concluding that two FOIA exemрtions applied to prevent release of the information, and (2) the district court erred in finding that the privacy of Virtue, witnesses and third parties outweighed the public’s interest in disclosure. We affirm the district court’s determination that the information falls under certain FOIA exemptions. However, we find that the public interest in disclosure outweighs Virtue’s right to privacy and order the release of additional information from the report.
BACKGROUND
Perlman filed a request under FOIA with the Department of Justice (“DO J”) on November 17, 1999, seeking the release of a 143-page Report of Investigation (“ROI”) by DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General. The ROI discusses allegations of impropriety on the part of INS officials in running the EB-5 Investor Visa Program (“EB-5”). Created in 1990, the EB-5 program offered special American visas to wealthy foreigners who invested between $500,000 and $1 million in business ventures employing at lеast 10 American workers. See 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5)(A). After meeting certain conditions, the foreign investor eventually could receive permanent resident alien status. See 8 U.S.C. § 1186b. Visa investment companies sprung up in response to the creation of this program. The companies promoted the EB-5 program by offering foreign investors shares in limited partnerships, usually for $125,000, a fraction of the required investment of $500,000. Alien investors used promissory notes to meet EB-5’s investment requirements. The notes permitted the investors to receive green cards without having to put up the remaining money. The INS approved this alternate route to obtaining an EB-5 visa. However, at some point allegations surfaced that former INS officials who were involved with the visa companies received improper preferential treatment from current INS employees. An investigation by DOJ’s Inspectоr General followed, which generated the ROI.
The ROI examined the EB-5 program and the role that Virtue played in its administration while he was INS deputy general counsel and general counsel. Virtue left the INS in 1999. DOJ states that the ROI examined allegations that Virtue “improperly granted former INS officials preferential treatment and undue access and influence in the administration” of the EB-5 program. The ROI consists of (1) a synopsis, (2) a subject of investigation *104 form, containing basic information on Virtue, (3) a list of the 40 memoranda of investigation (“MOIs”), and (4) the MOIs.
DOJ’s Office of Inspector General denied Perlman’s FOIA request on January 27, 2000. The Inspector General based its denial on two FOIA exemptions: Exemption 6, which concerns personnel and similar files, and Exemption 7(C), which concerns reports compiled for law enforcement purposes. Perlman administratively appealed the denial on February 7, 2000. Before receiving an answer to his administrative appeal, however, Perlman, acting pro se, brought this lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on August 7, 2000. He later retained counsel. In response to Perlman’s administrative appeal, DOJ’s Office of Information and Privacy ordered the disclosure of 49 report pages, most redacted in some respect, but otherwise upheld the prior denial.
On December 4, 2000, DOJ moved for summary judgment in the Southern District lawsuit, submitting in support of its motion three declarations describing the information in the ROI and the reasons for withholding the redacted portions. DOJ described the redacted material as falling into three categories: (1) the names of Inspector General agents involved in the investigation; (2) the names of witnesses and others mentioned in the ROI, along with any identifying information; and (3) the information regarding Virtue. The district court, after hearing argument on June 22, 2001, ordered DOJ to review its redactions to determine whether any of the remaining material should be disclosed and to submit an unredacted copy of the ROI to the court for
in camera
review.
Perlman v. United States Dep’t of Justice,
No. 00 CIV. 5842,
Aftеr reviewing the entire ROI, the district court granted DOJ’s motion in part and denied it in part.
Perlman,
DISCUSSION
We review an agency’s decision to withhold records under FOIA
de novo,
and we “may examine the contents of such agency records in camera to determine whether such records or any part thereof shall be withheld under any of the exemptions....” 5 U.S.C. § 552(а)(4)(B);
see also Halpern v. Federal Bureau of Investigation,
“The Freedom of Information Act adopts as its most basic premise a policy strongly favoring public disclosure of information in the possession of federal agencies.” Hal
pern,
A. Exemption 7(C)
Perlman argues that the district court erred in finding that Exemption 7(C) applied to the ROI because the report concerned an investigation of the EB-5 program as a whole and not Virtue personally. According to Perlman, the ROI is not a law enforcement record merely because the Inspector General’s office wrote it. We agree with the district court that the ROI was compiled for law enforcement purposes.
Our review of a claim under Exemption 7(C) involves two steps: “a document must first be shown to have been compiled for a law enforcement purpose, and if so, the agency must also demonstrate that release of the material would result in one of the ... harms specified in the [FOIA].”
Ferguson v. Federal Bureau of Investigation,
B. Exemption 6
Perlman argues the district court erred in finding that the ROI was similar to a personnel file because (1) the ROI did not involve a disciplinary proceeding; and (2) the ROI responded to specific allegations, not routine record keeping requirements. We disagree. An agency may withhold “personnel and medical files and similar files” if disclosure “would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of per
*106
sonal privacy.” 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6). The statute thus describes “similar files” broadly, and the term includes any “detailed Government records on an individual which can be identified as applying to that individual.”
United States Dep’t of State v. Washington Post Co.,
C. Balancing privacy rights and the public’s interest in disclosure
Perlman argues that the privacy interests at issue — those of witnesses, third parties and Virtue — are substantially outweighed by the public’s interest in exposing the flaws in the administration of the EB-5 program. He urges us to find error in the district court’s conclusion to the contrary. We agree with the district court that the privacy interests of witnesses and third parties outweigh the public’s interest in disclosure. However, after applying several factors we find relevant in assessing whether the information concerning a government employee should be disclosed to the facts of this case, we conclude that the public’s interest in disclosure of the ROI, with limited exceptions, substantially outweighs Virtue’s privacy interests.
As noted previously, in the case of the 7(C) exemption, we ask if the record was compiled for a law enforcement purpose and if its release would result in harm. The exemption applies “where the invasion of personal privacy resulting from release of the information would outweigh the public interest in disclosure.”
Halpern,
We first evaluate the privacy interests of witnesses and third parties to the ROI. These parties possess strong privacy interests, because being identified as part of a law enforcement investigation could subject them to “embarrassment and harassment,” especially if “the material in question demonstrates or suggests they had at one time been subject to criminal investigation.” Halp
ern,
*107
Virtue, however, stands on different ground from witnesses and third parties to the investigation because of his status as former INS general counsel and the role he played in administering the EB-5 program. Virtue’s privacy interest is “somewhat diminished” by his status as a government employee, although in accepting public employment one does not “not surrender all rights to personal privacy.”
Kimberlin v. Department of Justice,
In balancing a government employee’s privacy interests against the public’s interest in disclosure, a court should consider several factors, including: (1) the government employee’s rank; (2) the degree of wrongdoing and strength of. evidence against thе employee; (3) whether there are other ways to obtain the information; (4) whether the information sought sheds light on a government activity; and (5) whether the information sought is related to job function or is of a personal nature. The factors are not all inclusive, and no one factor is dispositive. We now apply these factors in evaluating Virtue’s privacy interests and the public’s interest in disclosing the ROI.
(1) Rank of government employee: We adopt the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia’s rule “that the level of responsibility held by a federal employee,” is an “appropriate consideration ]” when analyzing disclosure.
Stern,
(2) Degree of wrongdoing and strength of evidence against the employee: This factor requires a court to examine the degree of wrongdoing allegedly committed by the employee and the strength of the evidence. Strong evidence of wrongdoing, combined with a serious offense, would weigh in favor of disclosure. Thus, in
Stern,
the court ordered disclosure where the government employee was “a high-level employee who was found to have participated deliberately and knowingly in the withholding of damaging information in an important inquiry,”
(3) Availability of other means to obtain the information: This factor examines whether the government is the only means fоr obtaining the desired information. Here, the release of the ROI by the government appears to be the only means available for obtaining information about the investigation. The government performed the investigation, has exclusive access to immigration and other records, and is in a unique position to interview witnesses. This factor argues for disclosure.
(4) Whether the information sought sheds light on government activity: This factor examines whether the information sought furthers FOIA’s main purpose of “opening] agency action to the light of public scrutiny,”
Rose,
(5) Whether the information is related to job function, or is оf a personal nature: This factor is related to the government activity factor because the purpose of FOIA is to shed light on public rather than private activity. FOIA is not a tool to obtain personal information about government employees. Rather, the disclosed information must relate to the employee’s performance of his public duties. Aside from providing some minor personal background information about Virtue, which should remain redacted, the ROI focuses exclusively on Virtue’s performance as INS general counsel. Thus, this factor weighs heavily in favor of disclosure.
Each of the factors therefore weighs in favor of disclosure. The public’s interest in the disclosure of the ROI substantially outweighs Virtue’s interest in keeping the information private. 2 We vacate the judg *109 ment of the district court below and order the district court to release the portions of the ROI specified in this opinion. We exempt from disclosure certain information that implicates privacy interests so strong as to outweigh the public’s interest in disclosure. Thus, the following sections of the ROI shall remain redacted: the redacted portions of page 3, MOI No. 1 and the names of all witnesses and third parties, including any identifying information. However, DOJ should turn over a less-redacted version of pagе 2, which still protects the identities of witnesses and third parties mentioned in the synopsis. The restriction on releasing the names and identifying information of witnesses and third parties extends to all parts of the ROI as redacted by the district court, including any mention in the narrative portions.
CONCLUSION
We affirm the district court’s findings regarding Exemptions 6 and 7(C) and the withholding of information regarding witnesses and third parties. However, we vacate the district court’s ruling stemming from its balancing of Virtue’s privacy interests against the public’s interest in disclosure, and remand for further release of the ROI in accordance with this opinion.
Notes
. We are mindful that the release of this final report does not impinge upon the protection afforded to preliminary materials compiled by government attorneys in the course of civil and criminal investigations. Traditional protections against the disclosure of legal and investigative documents, including the work product doctrine, deliberative process doctrine, and attorney-client privilege, are incorporated into FOIA by Exemption 5, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5), which immunizes such material from disclosure.
Grand Cent. P'ship, Inc. v. Cuomo,