Communication with Senator Lindsey Graham (Attorney General)

Dear Mr. Meller,

This responds to your April 10, 2014 e-mail to this Office seeking a status update of your Freedom of Information Act request, OLA/14-00570(F), seeking all communication to or from Senator Lindsey Graham or his staff since assuming office, January 3, 2003 through November 15, 2013.

Please be advised, this Office has conducted a search for records and we are currently reviewing the documents located. We will respond to you again once our review is completed and any disclosure determinations are made. At this time, we estimate that your this request should will be completed in six to eight weeks. Please be advised that this is an estimate that may be modified as the material is evaluated.

I hope this status update is helpful, and please feel free to contact this Office with any further questions at the contact information listed below.

________________________________________

Initial Request Staff

Office of Information Policy
U.S. Department of Justice
1425 New York Avenue, NW
Suite 11050
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Phone: 202-514-FOIA (3642)
Fax: 202-514-1009

Dear Mr. Meller:

Thank you for your inquiry and I apologize for the delay in this Office's response to your request, administrative tracking number F-2014-00570. While we have been working on your case, due to the 10 year time period of the request, it is taking us time to review all correspondence to and from Senator Graham. Because your request encompasses a wide range of topics and types of correspondence, you may choose to reduce the amount of processing time for your request by narrowing the types of records you seek. During our search for Congressional records, we typically locate the following categories of correspondence:

1) Constituent Correspondence
a. Correspondence from Members of Congress to Department officials on behalf of constituents, as well as the Department's reply. Constituent correspondence is often of a personal nature specific to the constituent and does not pertain to legislative issues.

2) General Correspondence
a. Correspondence from Members of Congress to the Attorney General or other Department officials thanking them for their assistance in legislative projects or participation in events, forwarding publications or materials for the Department's reference, and similar types of correspondence.

3) Congressional Grant Correspondence
a. Correspondence from Members of Congress to various Department components including the Offices of Justice Programs, Community oriented Policing Services, and Violence Against Women, in support of specific grant applications submitted by individuals, groups, and/or organizations, as well as the Department's reply.

4) Hearings Correspondence
a. Correspondence from the Chairman of a Congressional committee or subcommittee asking the Attorney General or other Department officials to testify at a Congressional hearing.

5) Invitations
a. Correspondence from Members of Congress to the Attorney General or other Department officials inviting them to speak at public gatherings, or to attend private or public events as guests or honorees.

6) Legislative Inquiries
a. Correspondence between Department officials and Members of Congress who solicited the Department's views on legislative issues.

7) Congressional Oversight Correspondence
a. Requests for information from Congressional committees and subcommittees that conduct oversight of Departmental activities, as well as the Department's reply.

8) Committee Chairman Correspondence
a. Correspondence between the Chairman of a Congressional committee or subcommittee and the Department regarding issues pertaining to the subject matter of the committee/subcommittee.

In an effort to speed up our records processing of your request, please respond which categories of records you would like our office to focus on. Please feel free to contact me should you have any further questions.

Kelly Ort
Government Information Specialist
Office of Information Policy
Department of Justice
Suite 11050
1425 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Dear Mr. Meller: I am following up on the email I sent you on April 9, 2015 regarding your inquiry of April 2, 2015 about the status of your FOIA request. I have been further advised of your July 3, 2015 status inquiry. As we did not receive a response from you in our April 9, 2015 inquiry, I wanted to discuss the information that I provided you in that email. As I explained to you in my email of April 9, 2015, due to the 10 year time period of the request, it is taking us time to review all correspondence to and from Senator Graham. Because your request encompasses a wide range of topics and types of correspondence, you may choose to reduce the amount of processing time for your request by narrowing the types of records you seek. During our search for Congressional records, we typically locate the following categories of correspondence: 1) Constituent Correspondence a. Correspondence from Members of Congress to Department officials on behalf of constituents, as well as the Department's reply. Constituent correspondence is often of a personal nature specific to the constituent and does not pertain to legislative issues. 2) General Correspondence a. Correspondence from Members of Congress to the Attorney General or other Department officials thanking them for their assistance in legislative projects or participation in events, forwarding publications or materials for the Department's reference, and similar types of correspondence. 3) Congressional Grant Correspondence a. Correspondence from Members of Congress to various Department components including the Offices of Justice Programs, Community oriented Policing Services, and Violence Against Women, in support of specific grant applications submitted by individuals, groups, and/or organizations, as well as the Department's reply. 4) Hearings Correspondence a. Correspondence from the Chairman of a Congressional committee or subcommittee asking the Attorney General or other Department officials to testify at a Congressional hearing. 5) Invitations a. Correspondence from Members of Congress to the Attorney General or other Department officials inviting them to speak at public gatherings, or to attend private or public events as guests or honorees. 6) Legislative Inquiries a. Correspondence between Department officials and Members of Congress who solicited the Department's views on legislative issues. 7) Congressional Oversight Correspondence a. Requests for information from Congressional committees and subcommittees that conduct oversight of Departmental activities, as well as the Department's reply. 8) Committee Chairman Correspondence a. Correspondence between the Chairman of a Congressional committee or subcommittee and the Department regarding issues pertaining to the subject matter of the committee/subcommittee. In an effort to speed up our records processing of your request, please respond which categories of records you would like our office to focus on. Should you not wish to narrow your request, you may also advise this office of that decision. Once we have your response we can provide an updated estimate with regard to the processing of your request. Please feel free to contact me should you have any further questions. Kelly Ort Government Information Specialist Office of Information Policy Department of Justice Suite 11050 1425 New York Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530-0001

Dear Mr. Meller:

This is in regard to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request received in this office on November 18, 2013 seeking all communication to and from Senator Lindsey Graham, or his staff, from January 3, 2003 through November 15, 2013. This response is made on behalf of the Office of Legislative Affairs.

We have tried to contact you on April 9, 2015, June 9, 2015, July 9, 2015, August 4, 2015 and finally on October 22, 2015 regarding narrowing the types of records you seek. As of today, we have not received a response from you or anyone in your office.

Given the passage of time, circumstances may have changed your need for the information you originally requested, I write to ask whether you are still interested in the continued processing of your request.

If you are still interested, please reach out to me at my email address Kelly.J.Ort@usdoj.gov<mailto:Kelly.J.Ort@usdoj.gov> or you may call me directly at (202) 305-0580.

If you are no longer interested in pursuing your request, you need to do nothing. If we have not received any communication from you in thirty calendar days from the date of this letter, we will assume you are no longer interested in receiving the requested information and your case will be closed.

Kelly Ort
Government Information Specialist
Office of Information Policy
Department of Justice
Suite 11050
1425 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Kelly.J.Ort@usdoj.gov<mailto:Kelly.J.Ort@usdoj.gov>
202-305-0580

Dear Mr. Meller,

This responds to your March10, 2015 e-mail to this Office seeking a status update of your Freedom of Information Act request, OLA/14-00570(F), seeking all communication to or from Senator Lindsey Graham or his staff since assuming office, January 3, 2003 through November 15, 2013.

Please be advised, this Office has conducted a search for records and we are currently reviewing the documents located. We will respond to you again once our review is completed and any disclosure determinations are made. At this time, we estimate that your this request should will be completed in 60 days, or may 16, 2016. Please be advised that this is an estimate that may be modified as the material is evaluated.

I hope this status update is helpful, and please feel free to contact this Office with any further questions at the contact information listed below.

Kelly Ort

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Information Policy

1425 New York Avenue NW

Suite 11050

Washington, DC 20530

Kelly.J.Ort@usdoj.gov<mailto:Kelly.J.Ort@usdoj.gov>

Dear Mr. Meller,

Please see the highlighted response that was sent you on March 15, 2016 regarding the status update of your FOIA request: OLA/14-00570 (F). As we stated in our email, the Estimated Date of Completion for this matter should be May 16, 2016.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Kelly Ort
Government Information Specialist

On March 15, 2016:
Dear Mr. Meller,

This responds to your March10, 2015 e-mail to this Office seeking a status update of your Freedom of Information Act request, OLA/14-00570(F), seeking all communication to or from Senator Lindsey Graham or his staff since assuming office, January 3, 2003 through November 15, 2013.

Please be advised, this Office has conducted a search for records and we are currently reviewing the documents located. We will respond to you again once our review is completed and any disclosure determinations are made. At this time, we estimate that your this request should will be completed in 60 days, or may 16, 2016. Please be advised that this is an estimate that may be modified as the material is evaluated.

I hope this status update is helpful, and please feel free to contact this Office with any further questions at the contact information listed below.

Kelly Ort

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Information Policy

1425 New York Avenue NW

Suite 11050

Washington, DC 20530
Kelly.J.Ort@usdoj.gov<mailto:Kelly.J.Ort@usdoj.gov<mailto:Kelly.J.Ort@usdoj.gov%3cmailto:Kelly.J.Ort@usdoj.gov>

Dear Mr. Meller,

We had previously given you the date of May 16, 2016 as the estimated date of completion for this request. Because of the need to examine a voluminous amount of records and because the records you seek contain information of interest to other department components, we can respond only after consulting with the other components regarding their information. At this time, we need to extend the estimated date of completion to June 30, 2016.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Kelly Ort
Government Information Specialist

Dear Mr. Meller:

This is to acknowledge receipt of your Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act request that you sent to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The DOJ Office of Information Policy (OIP), forwarded your request, dated November 18, 2013 to the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Office of the General Counsel, which was received in this office on September 28, 2017. A copy of your request is attached for your convenience.

The records you seek require a search in another OJP office and so your request falls within "unusual circumstances." See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(B)(i)-(iii). Because of these unusual circumstances, we are extending the time limit to respond to your request beyond the ten additional days provided by the statute. We have not yet completed a search to determine whether there are records within the scope of your request. The time needed to process your request will necessarily depend on the complexity of our records search and on the volume and complexity of any records located. For your information, this Office assigns incoming requests to one of three tracks: simple, complex, or expedited. Each request is then handled on a first-in, first-out basis in relation to other requests in the same track. Simple requests usually receive a response in approximately one month, whereas complex requests necessarily take longer. At this time, your request has been assigned to the complex track. You may wish to narrow the scope of your request to limit the number of potentially responsive records or agree to an alternative time frame for processing, should records be located; or you may wish to await the completion of our records search to discuss either of these options.

Your request is assigned to Delores Johnson, FOIA Contract Paralegal, for processing. If you have any questions or wish to discuss reformulation or an alternative time frame for the processing of your request, or you may contact Ms. Johnson by telephone at (202) 307-6235, via e-mail at Delores.Johnson@usdoj.gov<mailto:Delores.Johnson@usdoj.gov>, you may write to this office at FOIAOJP, 810 7th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20531. Please include the above-referenced OJP FOIA number. Lastly, you may contact our FOIA Public Liaison at the above telephone number to discuss any aspect of your request.

This is a secure message. by 2017-10-21 15:36 EDT
to read your message. After that, open the attachment. https://securemail.usdoj.gov/formpostdir/securereader?id=VKWGEh7MgcY%2FU%2BojxSkRNedaPWdFhy4D&brand=1294dc92

Mr. Meller:

Attached is a response to your FOIA request.

Delores Johnson
Contract Paralegal Specialist
Office of the General Counsel
Office of Justice Programs
Department of Justice

Mr. Meller,

Attached is a letter with information about your FOIA request to the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice.

FOI/PA Branch
Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice
(202) 514-4210 - Main
(202) 514-6195 - Fax
FOIARequests@crt<mailto:robert.green2@usdoj.gov>.usdoj.gov