DARPA Drone Documents
| Submitted | July 8, 2012 |
| Est. Completion | None |
MuckRock users can file, duplicate, track, and share public records requests like this one. Learn more.
Communications
From: Drone Watch
To Whom It May Concern:
This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request all records (including, but not limited to, electronic records) maintained by this department and its officers, employees, and agents discussing, concerning, or reflecting:
1. any requests for proposals, proposals submitted by vendors, contracts, budgets or cost allocations for the purchase and/or use of aerial drones, UAs, UAVs, and UASs (hereinafter “drones”);
2. any policies, guidelines, manuals and/or instructions on department use of drones, including on the legal process required (such as a warrant or court order), if any, before operating a drone;
3. any departmental records concerning this department’s use of drones now or plans to use drones in the future including:
a. the types of investigations or instances in which this department is using or plans to use drones, or how it plans to support, manage or oversee the usage of drones by another department or office;
b. policies, guidelines, manuals and/or instructions on storage requirements or procedures for video or static images obtained through use of drones, including retention times;
c. the altitude at which drones can or do fly;
d. drones’ ability to carry weapons.
I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.
In the event that fees cannot be waived, 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,
Michael Morisy
From: Nichelson, Donald CIV WHS/ESD
Dear Mr. Morisy:
This is an interim response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated July 8, 2012 which was received in this office on the same day it was submitted. Your request has been assigned case number 12-F-1075 and we ask that you use that number when referring to your request.
We will be unable to respond to your request within the FOIA’s 20 day statutory time period as there are unusual circumstances which impact on our ability to quickly process your request. These unusual circumstances are: (a) the need to search for and collect records from a facility geographically separated from this Office; (b) the potential volume of records responsive to your request; and (c) the need for consultation with one or more other agencies or DoD components having a substantial interest in either the determination or the subject matter of the records. For these reasons, your request has been placed in our complex processing queue and will be worked in the order the request was received. Our current administrative workload is 1,278 open requests.
If you would like to discuss how to limit your request in order to speed the processing time, we would be pleased to discuss how you might modify your request. The action officer assigned to your request is Donald Nichelson at (571) 372-0425. The toll free number
for this Office is 866-574-4970.
You may not be aware that we maintain a website and electronic reading room at: http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/.
v/r
From: Nichelson, Donald CIV WHS/ESD
Good morning,
During our interim response to your Freedom of Information Request for DARPA Drone Documents 12-F-1075, your request for fee waiver was not addressed. Accordingly the below interim response is forwarded which addresses your request.
This is an interim response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated July 8, 2012 which was received in this office on the same day it was submitted. Your request has been assigned case number 12-F-1075 and we ask that you use that number when referring to your request.
We will be unable to respond to your request within the FOIA’s 20 day statutory time period as there are unusual circumstances which impact on our ability to quickly process your request. These unusual circumstances are: (a) the need to search for and collect records from a facility geographically separated from this Office; (b) the potential volume of records responsive to your request; and (c) the need for consultation with one or more other agencies or DoD components having a substantial interest in either the determination or the subject matter of the records. For these reasons, your request has been placed in our complex processing queue and will be worked in the order the request was received. Our current administrative workload is 1,278 open requests.
With regard to your request for a waiver of any applicable fees, a fee waiver is appropriate when “disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations and activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.” 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(iii). Decisions to waive or reduce fees are made on a case-by-case basis. I will consider your request for a fee waiver after a search is completed and this Office determines if records responsive to your request exist, and the volume and nature of those records.
I have determined that you should be placed in the “other” category for fee purposes as you have indicated that you do not seek access to these records for commercial purposes. The “other” fee category affords you two hours of search time and 100 pages of duplication free of charge. Subsequent processing will be assessed at the established Department of Defense (DoD) fee rates of: clerical search time--$20 per hour; professional search time--$44 per hour; executive search time--$75 per hour; and document reproduction at $0.15 per page.
As was previously mentioned, you should also know that we will be unable to respond to your request within the FOIA’s 20 day statutory time period as there are unusual circumstances which impact on our ability to quickly process your request. These unusual circumstances are: (a) the need to search for and collect records from a facility geographically separated from this Office; (b) the potential volume of records responsive to your request; and (c) the need for consultation with one or more other agencies or DoD components having a substantial interest in either the determination or the subject matter of the records.
For these reasons, your request has been placed in our complex processing queue and will be worked in the order the request was received. Our current administrative workload is 1,278 open requests.
If you would like to discuss how to limit your request in order to speed the processing time, we would be pleased to discuss how you might modify your request. The action officer assigned to your request is Donald Nichelson at (571) 372-0425 or donald.nichelson@whs.mil. The toll free number for this Office is 866-574-4970
You may not be aware that we maintain a website and electronic reading room at: http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/.
v/r
From: Drone Watch
Please process this request in the Media fee category. We do original analysis and synthesis of materials as well as other original reporting, and our work is disseminated to a wide audience.
In this particular case, the New York Times itself has been reporting on our findings, as have dozens of other news outlets and thousands of other web visitors.
From: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Files
pages