Records of the Department of State shall be made available to the public upon request made in compliance with the access procedures established in this part, except for any records exempt by law from disclosure. Any request for records must describe the information sought in such a way (see Sec. 171.5(c)) that an employee of the Department of State who is familiar with the subject area of the request can locate the records with a reasonable amount of effort. The sections that follow govern the response of the Department to requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act, Executive Order 12958, and the Ethics in Government Act. Regulations at 22 CFR 172.1-9 govern the response of the Department to subpoenas, court orders, and certain other requests for testimony of Department officials or disclosure of Department records in litigation to which the Department is not a party.