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Executive Officer's Meetings

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

DOJ-2017-002067

Status
Completed

Communications

From: Michael Best

To Whom It May Concern:

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

Copies of all notes and summaries of Executive Officer's meetings, including those held in person and by conference call, from January 1, 2008 through the date of the processing of this request.

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities for AND Magazine, MuckRock and Glomar Disclosure and have an open arrangement with each. My articles have been widely read, with some reaching over 100,000 readers. 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 the non-profit Internet Archive, 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 such, my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available and I therefore request that fees be waived. Per DOJ FOIA guidance, "a requester should be granted a fee waiver if the requested information (1) sheds light on the activities and operations of the government; (2) is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of those operations and activities; and (3) is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester." As this FOIA meets all of those requirements (see above), a fee waiver is warranted.

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,

Michael Best

From: MRUFOIA Requests

Sir/Madam,

Please see the attached response to your FOIA request. Please note, your request has been assigned tracking number EMRUFOIA020117-8.

Thank you,

MRU FOIA

From: OIP-NoReply@usdoj.gov

This message is to confirm your request submission to the FOIAonline application: View Request. Request information is as follows: (https://foiaonline.regulations.gov:443/foia/action/public/view/request?objectId=090004d281143d7e)
* Tracking Number: DOJ-2017-002067
* Requester Name: Michael Best
* Date Submitted: 02/01/2017
* Request Status: Submitted
* Description: FOIA request

From: OIP-NoReply@usdoj.gov

Attached is this Office's acknowledgment of the above-referenced request.

From: Muckrock Staff

To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following request, copied below.

Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

From: Department of Justice - FOIA/PA Mail Referral Unit

Dear Michael Best:
Attached is correspondence from the Department of Justice's Office of Information Policy regarding your above-referenced Freedom of Information Act request.

Sincerely,
Initial Request Staff
Office of Information Policy
U.S. Department of Justice
202-514-3642 (Main Line)

From: Muckrock Staff

Hi there,

We've been directed to forward this request to your office. Confirmation of receipt and an estimated date of completion would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

From: Department of Justice, Justice Management Division

October 28, 2019 Mr. Michael Best 186 Kunkle Road
Fawn Grove, PA 17312 Re: Request for notes and summaries of Executive Officer's meetings from 1/1/2008 - present Assigned JMD FOIA TRACKING NUMBER: 122601 Dear Mr. Best: This is to acknowledge that while processing your Freedom o f Information Act request dated 10/16/2019 concerning the subject referenced above, the Office of Information Policy referred matters that are of primary interest to the Justice Management Division (JMD) for processing and direct response to you. The referral was received by JMD FOIA on 10/16/2019 and assigned the JMD tracking number identified above. For your records, the Office of Information Policy identifying tracking number was DOJ-2017-002067 . The Justice Management Division assigns incoming requests to one of three tracks: simple, complex, or expedited. Each request is then handled on a first-in, first-out basis in relation to other requests in the same track. Simple requests usually receive a response in approximately one month whereas complex requests necessarily take longer. At this time, your request has been assigned to the Complex track. Please note that as a general matter, records in the Department are decentralized and our response will only cover information originating with or relating to JMD. If you are seeking information originating with or relating to other components of the Department, please make a FOIA request directly to those components. If you have a question about the status of your FOIA request, you may contact this office by sending an email to JMDfoia@usdoj.gov or by calling 202-514-3101 during regular business hours (Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Eastern Time, excluding federal holidays.) Please refer to the JMD FOIA TRACKING NUMBER whenever you contact the Department regarding this request. Sincerely, Karen E. McFadden FOIA Contact Justice Management Division

From: Department of Justice, Justice Management Division

Mr. Best,

Please see the attached response to JMD FOIA request #122601. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Karen McFadden
JMD FOIA Contact

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