DHSIA 3.27.24

Dear FOIA Officer:

You are receiving this correspondence as a request under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. subsection 552. I am requesting the following:

A copy of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Open Source Intelligence Report, dated July 17, 2020. The existence of this report was revealed by the Washington Post on July 31, 2020, in an article titled "DHS analyzed protester communications, raising questions about previous statements by senior department official". The article reads, in part:

"In a letter sent Friday, Democratic members of the Senate Intelligence Committee asked Brian Murphy, acting DHS undersecretary for intelligence and analysis, about statements he made to committee staff on July 23 regarding the department’s intelligence activities in Portland ... A DHS Open Source Intelligence Report dated six days before Murphy’s briefing to the committee shows that the I & A office analyzed messages that protesters exchanged on the Telegram messaging app. They discussed which routes to take during marches and how to avoid the police."

I am asking you waive any fees associated with this request. I am a member of the news media. My bylines, which include Unicorn Riot, Covert Action Magazine, and the Geopolitical Economy Report, can be found in both print and electronic publications, and I am sending this request in coordination with Muckrock, an award-winning and nationally-recognized news organization. Please take note of the Office of Management and Budget guidelines published March 27, 1987 (52 FR 10012) that include electronic publications and other nontraditional publishers as representatives of the news media.

A fee waiver is appropriate in situations where "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). As this report deals with the operations of a government agency and details the surveillance of American citizens, on American soil, there exists a public interest in understanding how and why DHS's Office of Intelligence and Analysis collected private communications. Per the Washington Post article, these communications were non-violent and "don’t show the protesters planning to harass or target police or damage property."

In the event that there are fees, I am willing to pay up to $100. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

This request is not being made for commercial purposes. All documents will be provided to the general public without charge.

I look forward to your response within 20 working days, as the statute requires. If access to the records I am requesting will take longer, please contact me with information about when I might expect copies or the ability to inspect the requested records.

If you deny any or all of this request, please cite each specific exemption you feel justifies the refusal to release the information and notify me of the appeal procedures available to me under the law.

Sincerely,

Robert Skvarla, Jr.