EO 13587 compliance and fulfillment (Department of Justice, United States Marshals)

Emma North-Best filed this request with the Department of Justice, United States Marshals of the United States of America.
Tracking #

2021-USMS-362428

Multi Request EO 13587 compliance and fulfillment
Est. Completion None
Status
Fix Required

Communications

From: Emma North-Best


To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

Documents, including but not limited to emails, memos, reports, assessments, letters and summaries of meetings and/or phone calls, mentioning or generated in the process of the fulfillment of and compliance with Executive Order 13587, “Structural Reforms to Improve Sharing and Safeguarding of Classified Information on Computer Networks." This request may be limited to materials generated between the date of issue of the Executive Order and January 19, 2017 (EOD).

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities, with some reaching over 100,000 readers in outlets such as MuckRock, Motherboard, Property of the People, AND Magazine, Unicorn Riot, and more. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through non-profits such as the library Internet Archive and and the journalist non-profit, MuckRock, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance.

Additionally, case law states that “proof of the ability to disseminate the released information to a broad cross- section of the public is not required.” Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Dep’t of Justice, 365 F.3d 1108, 1126 (D.C. Cir. 2004); see Carney v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 19 F.3d 807, 814-15 (2d Cir. 1994). Further, courts have held that "qualified because it also had “firm” plans to “publish a number of . . . ‘document sets’” concerning United States foreign and national security policy." Under this criteria, as well, I qualify as a member of the news media.

Additionally, courts have held that the news media status "focuses on the nature of the requester, not its request. The provision requires that the request be “made by” a representative of the news media. Id. § 552(a)(4)(A)(ii)(II). A newspaper reporter, for example, is a representative of the news media regardless of how much interest there is in the story for which he or she is requesting information." As such, the details of the request itself are moot for the purposes of determining the appropriate fee category.

As my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available, I request that fees be waived.

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,

Emma Best

From: Department of Justice, United States Marshals

Good Day,

The USMS FOIA is in receipt of your Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) of 19 November 2018. The USMS FOIA is currently experiencing an Extreme backlog. Request will be processed in the order that they come in. We do not have an estimated completion date for your request. But know that we ae working as quickly as possible to process each request received.
Regards,

USMS FOIA ADMIN

From: Department of Justice, United States Marshals

Good Day,

The USMS FOIA is in receipt of your Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) of 18 November 2018. The USMS FOIA is currently experiencing an Extreme backlog. Request will be processed in the order that they come in. We do not have an estimated completion date for your request. But know that we ae working as quickly as possible to process each request received.
Regards,

USMS FOIA ADMIN

From: Department of Justice, United States Marshals

An acknowledgement letter, stating the request is being processed.

From: Department of Justice, United States Marshals

Please find attached the letter of acknowledgment for the above mentioned request.
Regards,

Ms. Tracy A. Broady
Government Information Specialist
United States Marshal Services

From: Department of Justice, United States Marshals

Please find attached the letter of clarification for the above mentioned request.
Regards,

Ms. Tracy A. Broady
Government Information Specialist
United States Marshal Services

From: Emma North-Best

In order: from the date of the order's issuance to the present, and the records of whichever offices would be responsible for the order's fulfillment, and in those offices.

From: Department of Justice, United States Marshals

Dear Requester; This is in regards to your pending FOIA/PA request, which you submitted regarding “Executive Order 13587.” Your request for agency records cannot be processed at thistime.  The FOIA specifies a request foragency records must reasonably describe the records sought.  5 USC § 552 (a)(3)(A).  A description of a requested record issufficient if it enables a professional agency employee familiar with thesubject area to locate the record with a "reasonable amount ofeffort.”  See: Truitt v. Dep't of State , 897 F.2d 540, 544-45 (D.C. Cir. 1990); Ferri v. DOJ , 573 F. Supp. 852, 859 (W.D.Pa. 1983).  A federal agency is notrequired to a conduct wide-ranging, unreasonably burdensome search forresponsive records to a FOIA request. See: Nation Magazine v. U.S.Customs Serv. , 71 F.3d 885, 892 (D.C. Cir. 1995); AFGE v. U.S. Dep't of Commerce , 907 F.2d 203, 209 (D.C. Cir. 1990). Your FOIArequest as submitted is overly broad and not sufficiently particular.  A federal agency is permitted to seekclarification of overly broad requests because an agency is not required toconduct a search which would place an inordinate burden on agencyresources.  See Van Strum v. EPA, Nos. 91-35404, 91-35577, 1992 WL 197660, at *1(9th Cir. 1992).  Accordingly, the USMSrequests you provide additional clarification regarding the specific record(s)you seek. Therefore,USMS requests you provide additional detail and clarification regarding the specificrecords sought in your FOIA request.  Youmay contact the USMS FOIA at USMS.FOIA@usdoj.govif you would like to discuss any aspect of your FOIA/PA request and this correspondence.  You may also provide clarification regardingyour FOIA request to that email address. (mailto:USMS.FOIA@usdoj.gov) Should we not hear from you within 30 days of the date of this letter, we will be forced to close your request due to not being responsive. USMS FOIA

From: Department of Justice, United States Marshals

A fix is required to perfect the request.

From: Department of Justice, United States Marshals

A fix is required to perfect the request.

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