CVE Emails UMASS Lowell

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:

To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
All written and electronic communications, including emails, dated between January 2014 and January 2019 received or sent by:

Dr. Michael Williams, Postdoc, Center for Terrorism and Security Studies
Dr. John Horgan, Director, Center for Terrorism and Security Studies

pertaining to the subject matter of “Countering Violent Extremism” “CVE” “PEACE Project grants.” This includes any emails about grants from the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Attorney’s Office (plus all intermediary organizations administering those grants) that are geared towards ending violent extremism and radicalization.
Dr. Weitzman was listed as a partner in the CVE program in the following document, which is a framework released by the US Attorney’s Office. Dr Weitzman’s name appears on page 17.
https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-ma/pages/attachments/2015/02/18/framework.pdf
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Ava Sasani

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

I expect the request to be filled in an accessible format, including for screen readers, which provide text-to-speech for persons unable to read print. Files that are not accessible to screen readers include, for example, .pdf image files as well as physical documents.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Ava Sasani

Hi Christine,

Thank you so much for your email! I would like to amend my original request to focus only on Dr. John Horgan's emails.

Because I am only focusing on half of my original request, I would expect both the cost of my request to be lowered, and the response time to be faster. Please let me know your cost estimate if I focus ONLY on Dr. John Horgan.

Looking forward to hearing from you,
Thanks again!
Ava Sasani

Hi Christine,

Thank you so much for your response! I did have a chance to speak with the Supervisor of Public Record's Office, and confirmed (as I thought) that because the "native form" of the files in question (emails)is digital, the files should be released digitally. Because I am not asking for any change in the form of the files (I'm not asking for hard copies), there should not be a photocopying fee.

Please let me know once you've gotten the chance to reassess the fee for my amended request, thank you for your time!

Best,
Ava

Hi Christine,

Thank you so much for making that adjustment! Unfortunately, I just have one last issue with the associated fee.

https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2017/09/13/950cmr32.pdf

If you take a look at the state’s public records access law (linked above) you’ll find on page 8 that “a fee shall not be assessed for time spent segregating or redacting records unless such segregation or redaction is required by law or approved by the Supervisor under 950 CMR 32.06(4)(g) and (h).”

As such, the only way to charge a segregation and redaction fee is to cite an outside statute requiring segregation, or to file a petition with the Massachusetts Secretary of State within 10 business days of my request. Since your response letter does not cite an outside statute, and the 10 days to file a petition for a segregation/redaction fee have already elapsed, there should be no charge for segregation and redaction.

Because the only cost remaining is a 3 hour search fee (and that fee is covered under my first four free hours) there should be no charge associated with my amended request (the one asking ONLY for Dr. Horgan’s emails.)

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns, I look forward to receiving my files!

Best,
Ava Sasani

Hi Christine,

Just wanted to follow up on this. Let me know if you have any questions about the segregation and redaction rule.

I do expect to receive these files soon.

Best,
Ava

To Whom It May Concern:

Please find enclosed a check for $50.00 to satisfy the fee associated with the attached public records request.

Thank you.

Hi Christine,

Just wanted to follow up quickly on my request for Dr. Horgan's emails. As you know I submitted the required $50 fee last Friday. look forward to hearing back from you!

Best,
Ava Sasani

That'd be great, thanks! This is the address we sent it to:

University of Massachusetts (Lowell)
PRL Office
Suite 420
220 Pawtucket Street
Lowell, MA 01854-2874

Is that correct?

To Whom It May Concern:

Please find enclosed a check for $50.00 to satisfy the fee associated with the attached public records request.

Thank you.

To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
All written and electronic communications, including emails, dated between January 2014 and January 2019 received or sent by:

Dr. John Horgan, Director, Center for Terrorism and Security Studies

pertaining to the subject matter of “Countering Violent Extremism” “CVE” “PEACE Project grants.” This includes any emails about grants from the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Attorney’s Office (plus all intermediary organizations administering those grants) that are geared towards ending violent extremism and radicalization.
Dr. Weitzman was listed as a partner in the CVE program in the following document, which is a framework released by the US Attorney’s Office. Dr Weitzman’s name appears on page 17.
https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-ma/pages/attachments/2015/02/18/framework.pdf
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Ava Sasani

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

I expect the request to be filled in an accessible format, including for screen readers, which provide text-to-speech for persons unable to read print. Files that are not accessible to screen readers include, for example, .pdf image files as well as physical documents.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Ava Sasani

Hi Christine,

Just wanted to check in to see if you had received the check? We cancelled the one sent to the incorrect address and resent a new one to:

Christine Gillette, Office of University Relations, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854.

That check was sent last week, so it should be arriving soon!

Looking forward to hearing from you, best,
Ava

Hi Christine,

Just wanted to check in to see if you had received the check? We cancelled the one sent to the incorrect address and resent a new one to:

Christine Gillette, Office of University Relations, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854.

That check was sent last week, so it should be arriving soon!

Looking forward to hearing from you, best,
Ava