Ebola mission to Liberia (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
| Tracking # |
F-2019-03850 19-00245-FOIA |
| Multi Request | Ebola mission to Liberia |
| Submitted | Oct. 12, 2018 |
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Communications
From: Emmanuel Freudenthal
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
1 - Any photos taken during the mission to transport Ebola blood samples from Liberia to the US towards the end of 2016. This includes photos by employees as part of their work on this official mission, or photos by third party contractors.
2 - Any contracts or agreements with Phoenix Air to supply their services for the mission to transport Ebola blood samples from Liberia to the US towards the end of 2016 (signed by any institution such as CDC, DTRA, NIH, etc). I'm sure you'll have a copy of that.
3 - Any contracts or agreements with Sandia that you have at hand from 01 July 2013 and today regarding their work in Liberia (signed by any institution such as CDC, DTRA, NIH, etc). I'm sure you'll have a copy of that.
4 - Any Chain of Custody documents signed for the shipping of any Ebola blood samples from Liberia to the USA between 01/01/16 and 31 December 17. The staff responsible for the sample management at the CDC and NIH will have a copy of that.
5 - Any documents with information linked to blood samples that were transported from Liberia to the US from 01/01/17 to 01/11/17 (e.g. the name of the patient, their origin, their gender, their clinical signs etc). I do not require individual documents as I understand that the private information of patients cannot be disclosed. Please feel free to redact that personal information from any documents that contain lists. In case there are many documents that pertain to single individuals with the sample templates, then please provide one of each of the types of documents as a template.
6 - The agreement between Liberia and the US (signed by the Ambassador of the US in Liberia) signed around September 2016 for the transport of Ebola blood samples from Liberia to the US.
7 - Any inventory of Ebola blood samples held by the US that were brought from Liberia, including samples held at Fort Detrick and Rocky Mountain Lab.
This request should be properly classified as a media request. I am a freelance investigative reporter covering covering East and Central Africa, with a particular focus on business, corruption, natural resources, land and social issues.
I have a strong likelihood of publishing news articles based on information released in response to this request. I have previously been published in Le Monde Afrique, IRIN News, Sydney Morning Herald, African Arguments and others. If you have questions about my media classification, please let me know and I'm happy to address them.
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 filed electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not, and I would like text-searchable documents.
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.
Best regards,
Emmanuel Freudenthal
From: Emmanuel Freudenthal
Dear CDC,
I have not received an acknowledgment of my the FOIA request sent on 25th October. Could you confirm that you're received it and will process it within the statutory timeframe?
Thanks in advance. Best regards,
Emmanuel
From:
December 14, 2018
Request Number: 19-00245-FOIA
Dear Freudenthal:
This is regarding your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of October 12, 2018.
Please see the attached letter.
Sincerely,
CDC/ATSDR FOIA Office
770-488-6399
From: Emmanuel Freudenthal
Dear CDC,
Thanks for your reply.
#4 has no reference to a grant, solicitation, or contract number, I asked "4. Any Chain of Custody documents signed for the shipping of any Ebola blood samples from Liberia to the USA between 01/01/16 and 31 December 17. The staff responsible for the sample management at the CDC and NIH will have a copy of that."
Could you clarify why you need "Grant, solicitation, or contract number"?
Kindly remove #3 from this request as this is dealt with in a separate FOIA.
I'm looking forward to receiving the documents requested.
Thanks in advance. Best regards,
Emmanuel
From:
December 18, 2018
Request Number: 19-00245-FOIA
Dear Mr. Freudenthal:
Please see the attached letter regarding your FOIA request and recent email correspondence.
Sincerely,
CDC/ATSDR FOIA Office
770-488-6399
From: Emmanuel Freudenthal
Dear CDC,
Thanks for your reply.
I'm confused as to why you are now asking "State health identification numbers (obtained from the state health department) are required for a search of CDC health and medical records, laboratory profiles, or any other data that would assist us with our search." You didn't ask for it in your previous letter.
Please note that in #5, I'm not asking for medical records of any US citizen who would have State health identification numbers.
Could you explain the reason for this requirement?
Under #2, kindly provide the following contracts 75D30118P00787; HHSD200200615147I; HHSD2002012M50736P; HHSD2002014674P; HHSD2002014675P
Thanks in advance. Best regards,
Emmanuel
From:
January 4, 2019
Request Number: 19-00245-FOIA
Dear Freudenthal:
This is regarding your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of October 12, 2018.Please see the attached letter.
Sincerely,
CDC/ATSDR FOIA Office
770-488-6399
From:
January 14, 2019
Request Number: 19-00245-FOIA
Dear Freudenthal:
This is regarding your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of October 12, 2018.
Please see the attached letter.
Sincerely,
CDC/ATSDR FOIA Office
770-488-6399
From: Emmanuel Freudenthal
Dear CDC,
You can find the contracts listed here on the US government website with those numbers: https://www.usaspending.gov/#/search/cf159622e5c42242da87f0dc185f11a3
Please note that the website above is linked from the CDC website as a location where contracts can be found: https://www.cdc.gov/grants/resources/AwardData.html
I've also attached a screenshot of the page.
If this information is not accurate, please use the data provided by this website to locate the contracts.
Best,
Emmanuel
From:
February 22, 2019
Request Number: 19-00245-FOIA
Dear Mr. Freudenthal: This is regarding your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of October 12, 2018.
Please see the attached letter.
Sincerely,
CDC/ATSDR FOIA Office
770-488-6399
From: Emmanuel Freudenthal
Thanks for your reply.
I had provided a response regarding the contracts, but apparently it didn't get to you.
Best,
Emmanuel
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 12, 2018. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on July 3, 2019. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date. You had assigned it reference number #19-00245-FOIA.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 12, 2018. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on July 3, 2019. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date. You had assigned it reference number #19-00245-FOIA.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
August 7, 2019
Request Number: 19-00245-FOIA
Dear Mr. Freudenthal: In response to your August 2, 2019, email regarding your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of October 12, 2018, please note that this is a reminder that this request was closed and our final response to you issued in February. Copies of the final response and released records are attached.
Sincerely,
CDC/ATSDR FOIA Office
770-488-6399
From: Emmanuel Freudenthal
Sorry for the automated reminders.
Thanks for your help with this request.
Best,
Emmanuel Freudenthal
From: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Mr. Freudenthal,
Please find attached the State Department response to FOIA request F-2019-03850.
If you have any questions, you may contact FOIAStatus at FOIAStatus@state.gov.
Thank you,
Office of Information Programs and Services
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