Emails related to Mefloquine produced by the Army PHC Occ Med Program

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

All emails, and any attachments thereto, whose subject lines include the words “mefloquine” or “Lariam”, produced by physician staff of the U.S. Army Public Health Command’s Army Institute of Public Health (AIPH) Occupational Medicine Program between July 1, 2013 and the effective date of this request.

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,

Remington Nevin

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

All emails, and any attachments thereto, whose subject lines include the words “mefloquine” or “Lariam”, produced by physician staff of the U.S. Army Public Health Command’s Army Institute of Public Health (AIPH) Occupational Medicine Program between July 1, 2013 and the effective date of this request.

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,

Remington Nevin

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 29, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 29, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 29, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

Public Health Command is claiming in a tweet that they require an address to respond to this request. Would you kindly resend email and postal contact information for this request to the Public Health Command, and possibly copy this into this message so that it appears in such a way that I can send it to them on Twitter so that their receipt of this is perfectly clear? Thank you in advance.

To Whom It May Concern:

The FOIA request copied below was sent via email to the United States Army Public Health Command at USACHPPM-FOIA@amedd.army.mil on September 23, 2014. It has yet to receive acknowledgement. A follow up containing a copy of the request was sent to USACHPPM-FOIA@amedd.army.mil and foia.medcom@amedd.army.mil on October 23, 2014. On October 27, 2014, another follow up was sent to both email addresses. On November 26, an additional follow up was sent to the latter address.

Please now note the following:

MuckRock News
DEPT MR 13193
PO Box 55819
Boston, MA 02205-5819

requests@muckrock.com

Please confirm receipt of this request and provide an estimated date of completion forthwith.

Thank you.

Hello,

Numerous attempts have been made to contact your office regarding the FOIA request copied below. Please note all attached communications. Please confirm receipt of this request and provide an estimated date of completion forthwith.

Thank you for your help.

__________________________

From Remington Nevin on Sept. 23, 2014:
To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

All emails, and any attachments thereto, whose subject lines include the words “mefloquine” or “Lariam”, produced by physician staff of the U.S. Army Public Health Command’s Army Institute of Public Health (AIPH) Occupational Medicine Program between July 1, 2013 and the effective date of this request.

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,

Remington Nevin

Hello,

Numerous attempts have been made to contact your office regarding the FOIA request copied below. Please note all attached communications. Please confirm receipt of this request and provide an estimated date of completion forthwith.

Thank you for your help.

_____________________________

From Remington Nevin on Sept. 23, 2014:
To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

All emails, and any attachments thereto, whose subject lines include the words “mefloquine” or “Lariam”, produced by physician staff of the U.S. Army Public Health Command’s Army Institute of Public Health (AIPH) Occupational Medicine Program between July 1, 2013 and the effective date of this request.

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,

Remington Nevin

Commander,
U.S. Army Medical Command
ATTN: Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts Office
2748 Worth Road
Fort Sam Houston, Texas 78234-6021
Re: FOIA Request dated September 23, 2014, subject: “Emails related to Mefloquine produced by the Army PHC Occ Med Program”

This is an appeal under the Freedom of Information Act. I am writing to appeal the constructive denial of a request properly made to the U.S. Army Public Health Command on September 23, 2014 and formally unacknowledged as of this date.

The Freedom of Information Act provides an agency no more than thirty days to respond to a request . When an agency fails to respond within that statutory timeline, it has constructively denied the request. (See Oglesby v. U.S.
Dep't of Army, 920 F.2d 57, 65 (D.C. Cir. 1990) (“Congress adopted the time limit provision in the FOIA in order to ‘contribute to the fuller and faster release of information, which is the basic objective of the Act.’” (quoting H.R. Rep. No. 93-876, 93d Cong., 2d Sess., reprinted (1974) U.S. Code Cong. & Ad. News 6267 at 6271))).

As may be confirmed at the public website MuckRock (https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/emails-related-to-mefloquine-produced-by-the-army-phc-occ-med-program-13193/, a FOIA request for “[a]ll emails, and any attachments thereto, whose subject lines include the words “mefloquine” or “Lariam”, produced by physician staff of the U.S. Army Public Health Command’s Army Institute of Public Health (AIPH) Occupational Medicine Program between July 1, 2013 and the effective date of this request.”) was submitted by email to USAPHC-FOIA@amedd.army.mil on September 23, 2014, with follow-ups sent by email to foia.medcom@amedd.army.mil on October 23, 2014 and October 27, 2014.

It may be demonstrated that U.S. Army Public Health Command has received this request, based on a “tweet” sent from the Twitter account “@USAPHC” belonging to the U.S. Army Public Health Command on November 26, 2014 to the requestor at his private Twitter account “@RemingtonNevin” (see: https://twitter.com/USAPHC/status/537659524908601345) stating “We've completed the searches on these requests. Need an address to send them to.”

Although full postal return mailing addresses for this and other requests were clearly contained in the original request, additional emails were then sent on November 26, 2014 to foia.medcom@amedd.army.mil and USACHPPM-FOIA@amedd.army.mil listing full postal return address for the requestor.

Given USAPHC’s informal acknowledgement of this request, and its apparent completion of the search, I hereby request that your office immediately acknowledge this request, and release any responsive documents as the FOIA statute clearly requires.

As your agency has not met the statutory time requirement in responding to my request, the provisions of section 6 of the OPEN Government Act of 2007, Pub. L. No. 110-175, 121 Stat. 2524, shall apply, including the provision that "[a]n agency shall not assess search fees (or in the case of a requester described under clause (ii)(II) [of 5 USC § 552 (a)(4)(A) as described above], duplication fees) . . . if the agency fails to comply with any time limit… if no unusual or exceptional circumstances… apply to the processing of the request."

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation with this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to my original request no later than January 15, 2015.

Sincerely,

Remington Nevin