Dr. McCullough & Amazon (Food and Drug Administration)
| Tracking # |
2023-10458 FDA23097634 |
| Multi Request | Dr. McCullough & Amazon |
| Submitted | Oct. 12, 2023 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: AFL
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
All communications any employee and any email domain ending with “@amazon.com”--sent or received between September 1, 2023, and September 30, 2023--containing the word or words “McCullough” or “The Courage to Face” or “Leake”.
We request a fee waiver.
Please contact us with any questions.
Andrew Block
America First Legal
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,
AFL
From: Food and Drug Administration
*** This is an automated message. Please do not reply to this email. ***
Reference: FDA23097634
Dear Requester,
This is to confirm that you submitted a request for record(s) from the Food and Drug Administration
pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.
FOIA staff will review your request to determine whether it has sufficient information to be processed;
if so, you will receive another email as a formal acknowledgement of your request, with a control number for your request.
If your request is not sufficiently described,
or if there are any other deficiencies with your submission, FOIA staff will contact you via telephone or email.
From: Food and Drug Administration
Good morning,
We received your FOIA request for:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records: All communications any employee and any email domain ending with "@amazon.com"--sent or received between September 1, 2023, and September 30, 2023--containing the word or words "McCullough" or "The Courage to Face" or "Leake".
Our system allows us to search specific custodians or offices. Please specify which custodians/offices you are interested in searching.
Thank you,
Meredith J. Schlaifer, M.S., J.D.
FOIA Officer, Office of the Commissioner
Division of Freedom of Information
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Tel: 301-796-0583
meredith.schlaifer@fda.hhs.gov<mailto:meredith.schlaifer@fda.hhs.gov>
[cid:image001.png@01DA0598.5F30C310]<http://www.fda.gov/>
[cid:image002.jpg@01DA0598.5F30C310]<https://www.facebook.com/FDA> [cid:image003.jpg@01DA0598.5F30C310] <https://twitter.com/US_FDA> [cid:image004.jpg@01DA0598.5F30C310] <http://www.youtube.com/user/USFoodandDrugAdmin> [cid:image005.jpg@01DA0598.5F30C310] <http://www.flickr.com/photos/fdaphotos/>
From: Food and Drug Administration
Good morning. We received your request for:
To Whom It May Concern: Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records: All communications any employee and any email domain ending with "@amazon.com"--sent or received between September 1, 2023, and September 30, 2023--containing the word or words "McCullough" or "The Courage to Face" or "Leake". We request a fee waiver. Please contact us with any questions. Andrew Block America First Legal 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, AFL Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
We are unable to proceed without additional information. Please let me know when you are available to discuss your request.
Thank you,
Sarah B. Kotler, J.D.
Director, Division of Freedom of Information
US FDA
301-796-8976
From: AFL
Hello Meredith and Sarah,
Thank you for your acknowledgment and reply to our request.
As an initial matter, we have reasonably described the records we seek, which is any communications with Amazon regarding a specific author and book, in a one month time frame. It is not the requestor's responsibility to name who within the FDA was responsible for those communications. Indeed, that is what the FOIA request seeks to uncover. Therefore, we believe your response is legally deficient.
As a step towards finding the relevant documents, however, we would suggest searching all employees who work in 1) the immediate office of the Administrator; 2) Intergovernmental affairs; 3) congressional or legislative relations/affairs; 4) public affairs/media/communications; and 5) external affairs/coalitions.
To the extent that such a search is performed and no records are found, we reserve our right to challenge the validity of the search for the reasons stated above.
Thank you,
Andrew
From: Food and Drug Administration
Hi, I am following up on the email below. Thanks.
Sarah B. Kotler, J.D.
Director, Division of Freedom of Information
US FDA
301-796-8976
From: Food and Drug Administration
Control number: 2023-10458
Please find the attached acknowledgement regarding your FOIA request. Note: Do NOT reply directly to this E-mail
From: Food and Drug Administration
Dear Requester,
We conducted a search in the Office of Media Affairs and the Office of Legislation and found no records responsive to your request for communications any employee and any email domain ending with "@amazon.com"--sent or received between September 1, 2023, and September 30, 2023--containing the word or words "McCullough" or "The Courage to Face" or "Leake". Your request remains open for search in other offices. You will receive a final response at a later date.
You have the right to appeal this determination. Your appeal should clearly identify the agency determination that is being appealed. It would be helpful if you provide specific reasons explaining why you believe the agency's adverse determination should be reconsidered. By filing an appeal, you preserve your rights under FOIA and give the agency a chance to review and reconsider your request and the agency's decision. Your appeal must be mailed within 90 days from the date of this response, to: Director, Office of the Executive Secretariat, U.S. Food & Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1050, Rockville, MD 20857, or emailed within 90 days from the date of this response to FDAFOIA@fda.hhs.gov. Please clearly mark both the envelope and your letter "FDA Freedom of Information Act Appeal."
If you would like to discuss our response before filing an appeal to attempt to resolve your dispute without going through the appeals process, please contact Meredith Schlaifer at 301-796-0583. You may also contact the FDA FOIA Public Liaison for assistance at: Office of the Executive Secretariat, US Food & Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1050, Rockville, MD 20857, E-mail: FDAFOIA@fda.hhs.gov<mailto:FDAFOIA@fda.hhs.gov>.
If you are unable to resolve your FOIA dispute through our FOIA Public Liaison, the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), the Federal FOIA Ombudsman's office, offers mediation services to help resolve disputes between FOIA requesters and Federal agencies. The contact information for OGIS is:
Office of Government Information Services
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road-OGIS
College Park, MD 20740-6001
Telephone: 202-741-5770
Toll-Free: 1-877-684-6448
E-mail: ogis@nara.gov<mailto:ogis@nara.gov>
Fax: 202-741-5769
Sincerely,
Meredith J. Schlaifer, M.S., J.D.
FOIA Officer, Office of the Commissioner
Division of Freedom of Information
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Tel: 301-796-0583
meredith.schlaifer@fda.hhs.gov<mailto:meredith.schlaifer@fda.hhs.gov>
[cid:image001.png@01DA399D.FC298880]<http://www.fda.gov/>
[cid:image002.jpg@01DA399D.FC298880]<https://www.facebook.com/FDA> [cid:image003.jpg@01DA399D.FC298880] <https://twitter.com/US_FDA> [cid:image004.jpg@01DA399D.FC298880] <http://www.youtube.com/user/USFoodandDrugAdmin> [cid:image005.jpg@01DA399D.FC298880] <http://www.flickr.com/photos/fdaphotos/>
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