All communications to and from 13 named individuals (Department of Agriculture)

Dear Ms. B:

This email acknowledges receipt of your March 17, 2018, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Department FOIA Office (DFO). This office received your request for processing on March 22, 2018.

The DFO is under the purview of the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) and serves as the focal point for USDA's FOIA program. The DFO provides coordination and ensures agency-wide compliance with the FOIA. Additionally, the DFO processes requests and appeals on behalf of the Office of the Secretary and Departmental Administration's (DA) components (previously Departmental Management). For a complete listing of DA's components, please visit http://www.dm.usda.gov/agencies.htm.

After careful review of your FOIA request, the DFO determined that your request is too broad in
scope or did not specifically identify the records which you are seeking. 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. See 7 C.F.R. § 1.5(b). Where possible, a requester should supply specific information regarding dates, titles, names of individuals, names of offices, and name of agencies or organizations that may help identify the records. The FOIA does not require an agency to create new records, answer questions posed by requesters, or attempt to interpret a request that does not identify specific records.

In addition, in order for an email search to be conducted, you will need to identify the USDA offices or names of USDA employees that you believe are likely to maintain emails pertaining to the subject of your request. Unfortunately, we cannot conduct broad sweeping searches of all USDA email accounts.

Please provide additional information to enable a search to be conducted. Until you provide additional information, you request cannot be processed and will be placed on hold.

Also, please be advised that this action is not a denial of your request and will not preclude you from filing other requests in the future.

Provisions of the FOIA allow USDA to recover part of the cost of complying with your request. For purposes of fee assessment, you have been categorized as an "all other" requester, pursuant to 7 CFR Appendix A to Subpart A of Part 1 Section (5)(d). For your review and information, a copy of the USDA FOIA Fee Schedule is attached. In accordance with 7 CFR Appendix A to Subpart A of Part 1 Section 6(a)(4), your fees shall be waived where the amount of the fee is $25.00 or less. You will be contacted before any fees over $25.00 are accrued.
Your request has been assigned FOIA Case No. 2018-DA-03108-F. Please refer to this case number in any future correspondence. If you have any questions regarding the processing of this request, please contact Ms. Kathleen Drohan at 202-694-1802 or at kathleen.drohan@ocio.usda.gov<mailto:kathleen.drohan@ocio.usda.gov> or USDAFOIA@ocio.usda.gov<mailto:USDAFOIA@ocio.usda.gov>. For additional information regarding USDA FOIA regulations and process, please refer to the information available on-line at www.dm.usda.gov/foia<http://www.dm.usda.gov/foia>.

The DFO team appreciates the opportunity to assist you.

Thanks,

Kathleen Drohan, on behalf of the DFO team.

Kathleen Drohan
FOIA Analyst (Contractor)
United States Department of Agriculture
Department FOIA Office
Office of the Chief Information Officer
1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Room 4105
Washington, DC 20250
Telephone: (202) 694-1802
Email: Kathleen.Drohan@ocio.usda.gov<mailto:Kathleen.Drohan@ocio.usda.gov>

This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.

Hi Kat,

Thanks for your response.

Do you have email addresses for the 13 individuals? Along the same lines as your other request, if you want to search emails between those individuals and the Secretary, I will need their email addresses. If the individuals are USDA employees, let me know, but as far as I know/have researched, they aren’t so we don’t have email addresses for them.

Otherwise, I can simply use their names as search terms and search the Secretary’s email account, but I’ll need you to reply and confirm to do that.

Also, the Secretary’s first day in office was 4/25/17, so the search will start on 4/25/17 since before that time he wasn’t a USDA employee with a USDA email account.
Thanks!

I’ll go ahead and use the individual names as search terms. If the cost looks like it will exceed $25, I’ll let you know, but since you are receiving your documents electronically, I don’t anticipate there will be a charge.

Hi Kat,

Attached is correspondence from USDA DFO regarding your FOIA request, 2018-DA-03108-F.

Thanks,

Kathleen

Kathleen Drohan
FOIA Analyst (Contractor)
United States Department of Agriculture
Departmental FOIA Office
Office of the Chief Information Officer
Room 4105
1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington DC 20250
Telephone: (202) 694-1802
Email: Kathleen.Drohan@ocio.usda.gov

This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.