Cafe Ground Zero (National Archives and Records Administration)

Dear JPat Brown,

Thank you for submitting your Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act
request to the National Archives and Records Administration.

Due to the nature of your request, we have forwarded your request (received
in our office on December 7, 2016) to our Office of Research Services,
Special Access and FOIA staff, for appropriate handling. You will be
assigned a new tracking number by that office within the next 20 business
days. If you would like to follow up with that office directly please
contact them at specialaccess_FOIA@nara.gov.

For your reference, your original submission follows.

Thank you for contacting the National Archives and please visit our website
at www.archives.gov/foia for further information.

Please also visit our main website, www.archives.gov, to learn more about
the many exciting resources we offer the public.

Sincerely,

Joseph A. Scanlon
FOIA & Privacy Act Officer
National Archives and Records Administration
Office of General Counsel
(301) 837-0583

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <requests@muckrock.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 7, 2016 at 6:05 PM
Subject: Freedom of Information Request: Cafe Ground Zero (National
Archives and Records Administration)
To: foia@nara.gov

December 7, 2016
National Archives and Records Administration
FOIA Officer
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road, Room 3110
College Park, MD 20740

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request
the following records:

Records referencing "Cafe Ground Zero," the hot dog stand at the heart of
the Pentagon that was supposedly a major Soviet target during the Cold War.
http://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=1049

I am journalist who writes extensively about FBI files -
https://www.muckrock.com/project/subjects-matter-fbi-files-10/, which have
received national and international attention - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
news/article-3219376/Undercover-FBI-agents-spy-annual-Burning-Man-festival-
light-ongoing-war-terrorism-use-test-new-intelligence-
collection-technology.html

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,

JPat Brown

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Filed via MuckRock.com
E-mail (Preferred): requests@muckrock.com

For mailed responses, please address (see note):
MuckRock
DEPT MR 30671
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA 02144-2516

PLEASE NOTE: This request was filed by a MuckRock staff reporter. Also note
that improperly addressed (i.e., with the requester's name rather than
"MuckRock News" and the department number) requests might be returned as
undeliverable.
------

Dear Mr. Brown:

I am writing in further response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
request of December 7, 2016, for records in the custody of the National
Archives and Records Administration. Your request was received in this
office on December 19, 2016, and assigned FOIA case number RD 51812.

Your inquiry stated your interest in obtaining copies of “records
referencing “Café Ground Zero,” the hot dog stand at the heart of the
Pentagon that was supposedly a major Soviet target during the Cold War.”
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) holds permanently
valuable records of the United States Government. Agencies transfer their
records to us when those records are no longer necessary for the conduct of
agency business. This usually happens when records are about thirty years
old. NARA then maintains the files of each agency within a Record Group and
keeps the files arranged in the filing schemes used by the transferring
agency. While some files were indexed before they were transferred to NARA,
many were not. It is also important to point out that, generally speaking,
less than four percent (4%) of the records produced by the U.S. Government
during a given year actually is retained and eventually become part of the
holdings of the National Archives. This means that most records produced by
agencies of the U.S. Government are ultimately deemed to be disposable once
their administrative purpose has been fulfilled.

Notwithstanding the aforementioned obstacles, we conducted a search of the
finding aids that are available to us in order to locate records responsive
to your request. Unfortunately, we were unable to locate a reference to
“Café Ground Zero,” “hot dog stand,” or “Pentagon hot dog stand.”

If you have any questions, you may contact our office directly at (301)
837-3510. Our email address is archives2reference@nara.gov.

We do not consider this a denial of your FOIA request. However, if you are
not satisfied with our action on this request, your options for appeal and
dispute resolution are outlined in the attached enclosure.

Do not reply to this email. If you have any questions regarding this (or
any other textual reference) request, please email
archives2reference@nara.gov. Be sure to include your complete mailing
address (not email address) in all correspondence with the National
Archives.

This concludes the processing of your request.

Sincerely,

PAUL B. BROWN
Textual Reference Operations
National Archives at College Park, MD

RDT2 17-09523
cc: RD 51812
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