50 More Fun Words (2018) (Food and Drug Administration)

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Reference: FDA1954305
Dear Requester,
This is to confirm that you submitted a request for record(s) from the Food and Drug Administrationpursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.
FOIA staff will review your request to determine whether it has sufficient information to be processed;if so, you will receive another email as a formal acknowledgement of your request, with a control number for your request.
If your request is not sufficiently described,or if there are any other deficiencies with your submission, FOIA staff will contact you via telephone or email.

Note: Do NOT reply directly to this E-mail

Emma Best Emma Best

Re: Confirmation # FDA1954305
In Reply refer to: 2019-5229

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for records regarding:

Copies of emails sent to or from either the director's office (or equivalent) as well as their chief of staff (or equivalent) and executive director (or equivalent) containing any of the following 50 (non-case sensitive) words between 1 January 2018 and the present: 1. damn 2. damnit 3. goddamn 4. goddam ETC

Original Subject: To Whom It May Concern: Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records: Copies of emails sent to or from either the director's office (or equivalent) as well as their chief of staff (or equivalent) and executive director (or equivalent) containing any of the following 50 (non-case sensitive) words between 1 January 2018 and the present: 1. damn 2. damnit 3. goddamn 4. goddam 5. goddammit 6. webcomic 7. hurt 8. accuse 9. accused 10. allege 11. alleges 12. al...

We will respond as soon as possible and may charge you a fee for processing your request. If your informational needs change, and you no longer need the requested records, please contact us to cancel your request, as charges may be incurred once processing of your request has begun. For more information on processing fees, please see http://www.fda.gov/RegulatoryInformation/FOI/FOIAFees/default.htm. If you have any questions about your request, please call Sarah B. Kotler, Director, Division Of Freedom Of Information at (301) 796-8976 or write to us at: (http://www.fda.gov/RegulatoryInformation/FOI/FOIAFees/default.htm)

Division of Freedom of Information, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1035
Rockville, MD 20857
Fax:(301)827-9267

You also have the right to seek dispute resolution services from:

FDA FOIA Public Liaison
Office of the Executive Secretariat
5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1050
Rockville, MD 20857

E-Mail: FDAFOIA@fda.hhs.gov and/or:

Office of Government Information Services
National Archives and Administration
8601 Adelphi Road ? OGIS
College Park, MD 20740-6001

Telephone: 202-741-5770
Toll-Free: 1-877-684-6448
E-mail: ogis@nara.gov
Fax: 202-741-5769

Dear Requester,

FDA received your request for:

Date Range: 01/01/2018 - 06/13/2019; To Whom It May Concern: Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records: Copies of emails sent to or from either the director's office (or equivalent) as well as their chief of staff (or equivalent) and executive director (or equivalent) containing any of the following 50 (non-case sensitive) words between 1 January 2018 and the present: 1. damn 2. damnit 3. goddamn 4. goddam 5. goddammit 6. webcomic 7. hurt 8. accuse 9. accused 10. allege 11. alleges 12. alleged 13. disgrace 14. disgraced 15. worry 16. worries 17. worried 18. lost 19. perjury 20. perjured 21. lie 22. lies 23. lied 24. 1001 25. 1621 26. game 27. marijuana 28. drug 29. activist 30. activists 31. riot 32. soda 33. reward 34. prize 35. save 36. kill 37. decimate 38. punish 39. punishment 40. penalize 41. penalized 42. shred 43. wipe 44. erase 45. delete 46. bastard 47. bitch 48. bitched 49. bitching 50. dessert

Your request is not reasonably described, as you have only submitted a list of random search terms, not a description of records. Case law provides that "a FOIA petitioner cannot dictate the search terms for his or her FOIA request." Physicians for Human Rights v. Dep't of Def., 675 F.Supp.2d 149<https://www.leagle.com/cite/675%20F.Supp.2d%20149>, 164 (D.D.C.2009). Rather, a federal agency has "discretion in crafting a list of search terms that `they believe[] to be reasonably tailored to uncover documents responsive to the FOIA request.'" Bigwood v. Department of Defense, 132 F. Supp. 3d 124 (D.D.C. 2015). If you are trying to obtain records, please resubmit your request to describe what those records are, and FDA will use its discretion to determine how best to locate those records based on your description.

You have the right to appeal this determination. By filing an appeal, you preserve your rights under FOIA and give the agency a chance to review and reconsider your request and the agency's decision.
Your appeal must be mailed within 90 days from the date of this response, to:

Deputy Agency Chief FOIA Officer

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs

Room 729H

200 Independence Avenue, S.W.

Washington, DC 20201

Please clearly mark both the envelope and your letter "FDA Freedom of Information Act Appeal."
If you would like to discuss our response before filing an appeal to attempt to resolve your dispute without going through the appeals process, please contact me at 301-796-8976 or Sarah.Kotler@fda.hhs.gov<mailto:Sarah.Kotler@fda.hhs.gov>. You may also contact the FDA FOIA Public Liaison for assistance at:

Office of the Executive Secretariat

US Food & Drug Administration

5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1050

Rockville, MD 20857

E-mail: FDAFOIA@fda.hhs.gov<mailto:FDAFOIA@fda.hhs.gov>

If you are unable to resolve your FOIA dispute through our FOIA Public Liaison, the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), the Federal FOIA Ombudsman's office, offers mediation services to help resolve disputes between FOIA requesters and Federal agencies. The contact information for OGIS is:

Office of Government Information Services
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road-OGIS
College Park, MD 20740-6001

Telephone: 202-741-5770

Toll-Free: 1-877-684-6448

E-mail: ogis@nara.gov<mailto:ogis@nara.gov>

Fax: 202-741-5769

Sincerely,

Sarah B. Kotler, J.D.
Director
Office of the Executive Secretariat
Division of Freedom of Information
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Tel: 301-796-8976
Sarah.Kotler@fda.hhs.gov<mailto:Sarah.Kotler@fda.hhs.gov>

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