Fusion Center MOUs, MOAs and NDAs (Commonwealth Fusion Center)
| Tracking # |
20/1915 |
| Multi Request | Fusion Center MOUs, MOAs and NDAs |
| Submitted | Sept. 21, 2020 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Emma North-Best
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:
Copies of Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), Memorandums of Agreement (MOAs), Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and other coordination, cooperation, or other resource or information sharing arrangements with federal, state or local agencies, specifically including but not limited to law enforcement agencies.
You may limit the scope of this request to documents generated between January 1, 2012 and the date of the processing of this request. If the most recent agreements (whether active or inactive) predate January 1, 2012, then I request a copy of the most recently applicable document.
I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities, with some reaching over 100,000 readers in outlets such as Gizmodo, MuckRock, Motherboard, Property of the People, Unicorn Riot, and The Outline, among others. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through non-profits such as the library Internet Archive and the journalist non-profit MuckRock, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance.
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,
Emma Best
From: Commonwealth Fusion Center
Good Morning Ms. Best,
Please be advised that the Office of the Chief Legal Counsel of the Massachusetts State Police is in receipt of your public records request dated September 22, 2020 seeking "[c]opies of Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), Memorandums of Agreement (MOAs), Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and other coordination, cooperation, or other resource or information sharing arrangements with federal, state or local agencies, specifically including but not limited to law enforcement agencies."
Could you please clarify if your request is seeking only MOUs, MOAs, and NDAs with the Commonwealth Fusion Center, or all MOUs between the Massachusetts State Police and federal, state and local agencies?
Respectfully,
Joshua D. Reilly
Staff Counsel
Office of Chief Legal Counsel
Massachusetts State Police
470 Worcester Road
Framingham, MA 01702
Tel: 508-988-7426
[cid:image001.png@01D69262.B87E8D00]
The preceding email message (including any attachments) contains information that may be confidential, may be protected by the attorney-client or other applicable privileges, or may constitute non-public information. It is intended to be conveyed only to the designated recipient(s) named above. If you are not an intended recipient of this message, please notify the sender by replying to this message and then delete all copies of it from your computer system. Any use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction of this message by unintended recipients is not authorized and may be unlawful.
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From: Emma North-Best
Both.
From: Commonwealth Fusion Center
Ms. Best.
The Massachusetts Department of State Police ("Department") is in receipt of your request dated September 22, 2020 seeking the following:
"Copies of Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), Memorandums of Agreement (MOAs), Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and other coordination, cooperation, or other resource or information sharing arrangements with federal, state or local agencies, specifically including but not limited to law enforcement agencies.
You may limit the scope of this request to documents generated between January 1, 2012 and the date of the processing of this request. If the most recent agreements (whether active or inactive) predate January 1, 2012, then I request a copy of the most recently applicable document. The Department considers your request as a submission pursuant to G.L. c. 66, §10, the Massachusetts Public Records Law. Given the scope of your request, the Department is assessing a fee estimate for costs associated with a response for your request."
The Department conducted a diligent search of its records and identified more 200 Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) potentially responsive to this request. Staff would be required to review each of these documents, individually in order to determine whether the said records are responsive to this request.
The Massachusetts State Police is a law enforcement agency with various missions ranging from public safety and criminal justice, to homeland security and emergency preparedness, a large percentage of department and records may relate to highly sensitive matters. Further, given the Massachusetts State Police's collaboration with other state and federal agencies on criminal investigations and other matters regarding state and national security, the resulting records undoubtedly contain privileged and exempt information such as intelligence and investigative data, personnel, private, and security related information, as well as information related solely to internal personnel rules and practices of government necessary to withhold to ensure the proper performance of the Massachusetts State Police. These categories of information are specifically exempt pursuant to G.L. c. 4, § 7, cl. 26 (a), (b), (c), (f), and/or (n) and are not subject to public disclosure.
Accordingly, the information must be segregated and redacted from the records before the records are produced to a third party such as the requestor. As a state agency with the responsibility for maintaining extensive confidential information, the Massachusetts State Police has an obligation to ensure proper procedures are maintained to prevent the dissemination of information which is protected from disclosure by law. Fulfilling such an obligation requires a careful review and segregation of records intended for disclosure. As you are no doubt aware, segregation and redaction of records, including email messages, often involves the application of multiple exemptions to the public records law to a single email or document or even a single paragraph or sentence within an email or document. Some information is simultaneously protected by more than one exemption or different exemptions depending on context or the time of disclosure. Moreover, a review of each of these documents would be required to determine if an exemption applies.
The labor associated with researching, reviewing, and gathering this voluminous amount of information would be extremely costly, time-consuming, and burdensome. As you know, the Department may, pursuant to 950 CMR 32.07, assess a fee to individuals whose request would impose a significant cost on public agencies. The fees assessment is imposed to defray the cost of researching, gathering, and reviewing Department documents that may be responsive to a request.
Given that there are more than 200 potentially responsive documents and over 2885 pages that the Department must review and redact, this will impose an onerous burden on the Department, which will have to devote limited resources to review and redact these records.
Given the volume of information requiring review, the Department's good faith estimate of cost amounts to $1,100.00. This amount is based upon the following: the Department will be required to review each of the more than 200 potentially responsive documents consisting of at least 2885 pages. The Department estimates, conservatively and in good faith, that it will expend an average of 1 minute to review each page. Accordingly, the good faith estimate for reviewing emails is calculated at ( 1 min x 2885 equals 2885 minutes/60 minutes equals 48 hours - 4 gratis hours= 44 hours) at a rate of $25/hour resulting in a total cost of $1,100.00.
The Department expressly reserves the right to supplement this fee petition once it is able to determine the number of documents which require redactions. This fee estimate represents an actual and good faith representation. The fee is necessary, reasonable, and not designed to limit, deter or prevent access to requested public records.
Please let me know if you want to move forward with your request. Upon receipt of a check in the above referenced amount the Department will commence a search of the requested information. Be aware that given the amount of information being requested, the Department cannot project a timetable as to when the Department can complete this research.
If you have any questions or concerns, or if you wish to discuss this matter further, please do not hesitate to contact me directly. If you wish to challenge any aspect of this response, you may appeal to the Supervisor of Public Records as set forth in 950 C.M.R. 32.08, a copy of which is available at http://www.mass.gov/courts/case-legal-res/law-lib/laws-by-source/cmr/. You may also file a civil action in accordance with M.G.L. c. 66, § 10A.
Respectfully,
Joshua D. Reilly
Staff Counsel
Office of Chief Legal Counsel
Massachusetts State Police
470 Worcester Road
Framingham, MA 01702
Tel: 508-988-7426
[cid:image001.png@01D69BC0.CD8D6470]
The preceding email message (including any attachments) contains information that may be confidential, may be protected by the attorney-client or other applicable privileges, or may constitute non-public information. It is intended to be conveyed only to the designated recipient(s) named above. If you are not an intended recipient of this message, please notify the sender by replying to this message and then delete all copies of it from your computer system. Any use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction of this message by unintended recipients is not authorized and may be unlawful.
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From: Commonwealth Fusion Center
To Supervisor -
Good Afternoon,
The Department of State Police ("The Department") received a public records request from Ms. Emma Best via Muck Rock dated September 22, 2020. After reviewing the request the Department responded with the attached fee petition. This petition was emailed to Ms. Best today. The Department respectfully requests that the Supervisor allow this petition. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Respectfully
Joshua D. Reilly
Staff Counsel
Office of Chief Legal Counsel
Massachusetts State Police
470 Worcester Road
Framingham, MA 01702
Tel: 508-988-7426
[cid:image001.png@01D69BE8.A00505D0]
The preceding email message (including any attachments) contains information that may be confidential, may be protected by the attorney-client or other applicable privileges, or may constitute non-public information. It is intended to be conveyed only to the designated recipient(s) named above. If you are not an intended recipient of this message, please notify the sender by replying to this message and then delete all copies of it from your computer system. Any use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction of this message by unintended recipients is not authorized and may be unlawful.
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image001
From: Commonwealth Fusion Center
To Supervisor -
Good Afternoon,
The Department of State Police ("The Department") received a public records request from Ms. Emma Best via Muck Rock dated September 22, 2020. After reviewing the request the Department responded with the attached fee petition. This petition was emailed to Ms. Best today. The Department respectfully requests that the Supervisor allow this petition. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Respectfully
Joshua D. Reilly
Staff Counsel
Office of Chief Legal Counsel
Massachusetts State Police
470 Worcester Road
Framingham, MA 01702
Tel: 508-988-7426
[cid:image001.png@01D69BE8.A00505D0]
The preceding email message (including any attachments) contains information that may be confidential, may be protected by the attorney-client or other applicable privileges, or may constitute non-public information. It is intended to be conveyed only to the designated recipient(s) named above. If you are not an intended recipient of this message, please notify the sender by replying to this message and then delete all copies of it from your computer system. Any use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction of this message by unintended recipients is not authorized and may be unlawful.
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From: Commonwealth Fusion Center
Dear Records Custodian:
Please be aware, this office has received a petition relating to your entity's response to a request for public records. Attached are further details concerning this petition. If you have any questions or wish to provide further information relating to this matter, please contact the Public Records Division at pre@sec.state.ma.us<mailto:pre@sec.state.ma.us> or 617-727-2832. Given that the Supervisor of Records must issue a determination within 5 business days of receipt of the petition, please provide any additional information to this office as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Lauren Foley
Staff Attorney
Public Records Division
Secretary of the Commonwealth
Lauren.Foley@sec.state.ma.us<mailto:Lauren.Foley@sec.state.ma.us>
From: Commonwealth Fusion Center
Hello,
Please be aware, the Supervisor of Records has issued a determination relating to an appeal in which you were involved. This determination is attached, and available online at: http://www.sec.state.ma.us/AppealsWeb/AppealsStatus.aspx.
If you have any questions, please contact the Public Records Division at 617-727-2832 or pre@sec.state.ma.us<mailto:pre@sec.state.ma.us>.
Thank you,
Vinayak Kapoor
Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth
Public Records Division
One Ashburton Place, Room 1719
Boston, MA 02108
Email: Vinayak.Kapoor@sec.state.ma.us<mailto::%20Vinayak.Kapoor@sec.state.ma.us>
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