50 More Fun Words (2018) (United States Customs and Border Protection)

This message is to confirm your request submission to the FOIAonline application: View Request. Request information is as follows: (https://www.foiaonline.gov/foiaonline/action/public/submissionDetails?trackingNumber=CBP-2019-059879&type=request)
* Tracking Number: CBP-2019-059879
* Requester Name: Emma Best
* Date Submitted: 06/13/2019
* Request Status: Submitted
* Description: 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

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,

Emma Best

Attachments:

https://cdn.muckrock.com/outbound_composer_attachments/TheEmmaBest/71139/Fee20category20and20search20parameters_lE4cwr1.pdf

Emma Best
MuckRock News, DEPT MR 75249
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA, 02144
06/14/2019
CBP-2019-059879
Dear Emma Best:
This notice acknowledges receipt of your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) received on 06/13/2019 in which you are seeking copies of emails sent to or from the director's office as well as their chief of staff and executive director containing any of the words between January 1, 2018 and the present: damn, damnit, goddamn, goddam, goddammit, webcomic, hurt, accuse, accused, allege, alleges, alleged, disgrace, disgraced, worry, worries, worried, lost, perjury, perjured, lie, lies, lied, 1001, 1621, game, marijuana, drug, activist, activists, riot, soda, reward, prize, save, kill, decimate, punish, punishment, penalize, penalized, shred, wipe, erase, delete, bastard, bitch, bitched, bitching, and dessert.
Please clarify, do you wish to receive emails from the Commissioner's office rather than the Director,  and Executive Director, as there are Directors over several different offices in CBP.  A search of this breadth with the amount and type of search terms would make ths request extremely overburndensome.  Please advise within 10 working days (by June 28), so we may continue processing your request.
Please use the following unique FOIA tracking number CBP-2019-059879 to track the status of your request.  If you have not already done so, you must create a FOIAonline account at https://foiaonline.gov.  This is the only method available to check the status of your pending FOIA request. (https://foiaonline.regulations.gov/)
Provisions of the Act allow us to recover part of the cost of complying with your request.  We shall charge you for records in accordance with the DHS FOIA regulations outlined on the DHS website, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/11/22/2016-28095/freedom-of-information-act-regulations. By submitting your request, you have agreed to pay up to $25.00 in applicable processing fees, if any fees associated with your request exceed this amount, CBP shall contact you; however, the first 100 pages are free. (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/11/22/2016-28095/freedom-of-information-act-regulations)
Due to the increasing number of FOIA requests received by this office, we may encounter some delay in processing your request.  Consistent with 6 C.F.R. Part 5 § 5.5(a) of the DHS FOIA regulations, CBP processes FOIA requests according to their order of receipt.  Although CBP’s goal is to respond within 20 business days of receipt of your request, FOIA does permit a 10-day extension of this time period in certain circumstances pursuant to 6 C.F.R. Part 5 § 5.5(c).
CBP’s FOIA Division is working hard to reduce the amount of time necessary to respond to FOIA requests.  Currently, the average time to process a FOIA request related to "travel/border incidents" is a minimum of 3-6 months. We truly appreciate your continued patience.
For additional information please consult CBP FOIA website please click on FOIA Act Resources or visit (http://www.cbp.gov/site-policy-notices/foia) http://www.cbp.gov/site-policy-notices/foia. (http://www.cbp.gov/site-policy-notices/foia)
Sincerely,
U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Your request for Fee Waiver for the FOIA request CBP-2019-059879 has been denied.

* Fee Waiver Original Justification: As my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and
making the raw data available, I request that fees be waived.
* Fee Waiver Disposition Reason: Does not meet requirements as per DHS regulations.

Ms. Best,
This is CBP's second attempt to contact you to narrow the scope of your reqeust, please respond to all within 10 working days, by July 26, 2019.
Thank you,
Jodi Drengson

The FOIA request CBP-2019-059879 has had its Tracking Number changed to CBP-OIT-2019-059879. This is normally due to the request being transferred to another agency (for example, EPA to Dept. of Commerce) or to a sub-agency to process it. Additional details for this request are as follows:

* Old Tracking Number:
CBP-2019-059879
* New Tracking Number:
CBP-OIT-2019-059879
* Requester Name:
Emma Best
* Date Submitted:
06/13/2019
* Long Description:
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

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,

Emma Best

Attachments:

https://cdn.muckrock.com/outbound_composer_attachments/TheEmmaBest/71139/Fee20category20and20search20parameters_lE4cwr1.pdf

The FOIA request CBP-OIT-2019-059879 has had its Tracking Number changed to CBP-2019-059879. This is normally due to the request being transferred to another agency (for example, EPA to Dept. of Commerce) or to a sub-agency to process it. Additional details for this request are as follows:

* Old Tracking Number:
CBP-OIT-2019-059879
* New Tracking Number:
CBP-2019-059879
* Requester Name:
Emma Best
* Date Submitted:
06/13/2019
* Long Description:
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

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,

Emma Best

Attachments:

https://cdn.muckrock.com/outbound_composer_attachments/TheEmmaBest/71139/Fee20category20and20search20parameters_lE4cwr1.pdf

CBP-2019-059879
05/25/2022
Emma Best
N/A
MuckRock News, DEPT MR 75249
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA, 02144

RE: Freedom of Information Act Request CBP-2019-059879
Dear Emma Best
After careful review of your FOIA request, CBP-2019-059879, we have determined that your request is too broad in scope or did not specifically identify the records which you are seeking.  FOIA is not a search mechanism. Records must be described in reasonably sufficient detail to enable government employees who are familiar with the subject area to locate records without placing an unreasonable burden upon the agency.  For this reason, §5.3(b) of the DHS regulations, 6 C.F.R. Part 5, require that you describe the records you are seeking with as much information as possible to ensure that our search can locate them with a reasonable amount of effort. Please note that you request needs to be narrowed as The Office of Informaiton technology found 2TB of data to your request. CBP FOIA is asking you to narrow your scope to specific individuals and reduce your key terms, or descrive exactly what you are searcing for to better assist in getting the reocrds you are looking for. Please respond to this letter 06/24/2022 or your request will be closed for no response to this letter.
You can narrow the scope of your request as it could significantly reduce the processing time. Because email encompasses a wide range of material that may be responsive to your request but not of interest to you, you may choose to reduce the amount of search and processing time of your request by narrowing the types of email records you seek e.g. specific mailboxes, time frame and subject matter (including keywords).
If you are willing to modify the scope of your request, please respond to this email by contacting the FOIA Division via FOIA Online or for best results via email to cbpfoiapublicliaison@cbp.dhs.gov.  Please be sure to include the following information in the subject line of your email:  Request to narrow CBP-2019-059879.  Although an email to the above address is the best means to contact the office, you may also call (202) 325-0150 and leave a message, we will return your call as soon as possible. Or write to:
CBP FOIA Division
90 K St, NE MS 1181
Washington, DC  20229
We will stop the clock on your request while we await your response.  Please note, email requests currently take 12 months to four years to process.  The FOIA Public Liaison may further assist in advising on the requirements for submitting a request, and narrowing the scope of a request, advising the requester on the type of records to request, suggesting agency offices that may have responsive records, and receive questions or concerns about the agency’s FOIA process.
We sincerely apologize for the delay you are experiencing and appreciate your continued patience while we work together to clarify and narrow the scope of your request.
Sincerely,

FOIA Division
U.S. Customs and Border Protection