Cyber intelligence product offerings, business flyers: ManTech (U.S. Special Operations Command - USSOCOM)

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

Product brochures, Powerpoint presentations, flyers and other promotional business documents from U.S. defense contractor ManTech about products or services relating to offensive cybersecurity, electronic warfare, virtual operations, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Such product documents may carry terminology/keywords/descriptions that include: Computer Network Operations (CNO), Computer Network Exploitation (CNE), Computer Network Attacks (CNA), and quick reaction capability (QRC). ManTech, also known as ManTech International Corporation, is a Virginia-headquartered company that specializes in developing technology solutions for Department of Defense agencies. This FOIA seeks materials produced by the contractor to explain/sell/market their cyber intelligence capabilities/offerings to the U.S. government between the years 2017 and 2020 (or the current date of review). Such material would be likely held/controlled by the appropriate business contracting office within the agency and/or other divisions that make purchase/contracting decisions.

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,

Christopher Bing

Hello,

I am appealing the FOIA decision.

I would like to remind the office that a document does not need to be created by the agency to be considered a federal record that should be searched for and reviewed in response to FOIA - it merely needs to be a document that the agency is in possession of. Here is the actual citation: "Records include all books, papers, maps, photographs, machine-readable materials, or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an agency of the United States Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the Government or because of the informational value of the data in them (44 U.S.C. 3301)."

Furthermore, to the extent that any materials may be withheld pursuant to FOIA's exemption #4, an agency cannot withhold records simply because they fall within the scope of an exemption. Rather, the agency/office must also show that it "reasonably foresees that disclosure would harm an interest protected by an exemption" or that disclosure is prohibited by law. More on the scope of exemption 4 can be found here: https://foia.wiki/wiki/Exemption_4. While, the Argus-Leader SCOTUS case was a blow to the expansiveness of the exemption, there have been some more favorable recent circuit court rulings reinforcing that agency's need to pass the foreseeable harm standard. Additional reference: https://unredacted.com/2020/01/13/unredacted-ukraine-emails-show-foia-exemption-5-abuse-court-rules-contractor-diversity-data-cant-be-hidden-by-exemption-4-and-more-frinformsum-1-13-2020/

Look forward to hearing back from you. Thank you for your help in processing this request. It is greatly appreciated. \

If you have any questions, give me a call or shoot me an email.

-Chris Bing
Reuters reporter
202-510-0174
christopher.bing@tr.com