FBI Counterterrorism Law Section (OGC)

To Whom It May Concern:

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

All records — including legal opinions and memorandum, emails, and electronic communications — of the Counterterrorism Law Section. This Section is part of the National Security and Cyber Law Branch of the Office of the General Counsel.

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,

Ivan Greenberg

Dear FBI FOIA office:
I wish to modify my request I submitted on October 16, 2019. Please narrow the scope of my request to:

all legal opinions and memorandum issued within the last six months; that is, since May 28, 2019.

Sincerely,
Ivan Greenberg, PhD

Thank you for your response.
You may limit the search to all legal opinions and memos. Please do not limit it to “formal” records because it is unclear to me what that means. I do
not wish to limit my request to any particular subject.

Sincerely,
Ivan Greenberg, PhD

Dear Director, OIP

The FBI FOIA office just closed my request for records by saying the request was “overly broad.” I wish to Appeal this determination. I will provide information on this request and why I think DOJ should reopen this request and compel FBI to respond adequately in accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.

The request number is below:
Foipa number: 1451129-000
Subject: Counterterrorism Law Section Legal Opinions and Memorandums (On or after May 28, 2019).

My initial request was made on October 16, 2019.

On October 28, 2019, I modified this request and narrowed its scope, which the FBI acknowledged and wrote me about. The FBI asked me to narrow it down further in two ways.

First, they asked if I could limit the scope of their search to only “formal” legal opinions and memorandums. I wrote them back that I did not understand what they meant by the term “formal” records. As a result, they should not limit the search in this way.

The FBI never clarified what “formal” records means before denying my request. If this is a reason for saying my request is “overly broad,” I believe DOJ should reject their view of the law. I would have considered narrowing my request along these lines if FBI had clarified the criteria they are using to search records within the category of “formal” versus other records.

Second, FBI asked if I wanted to narrow my request to limit it to particular subjects under legal opinions and memorandum. I said I did not wish to limit the request in this way.

The FBI never indicated to me approximately how many pages my request would apply to — such as over 5,000 pages or less. In the past, the FBI has agreed to process files for me that are very large and made detailed responses (usually via phone) on ways to limit what they will declassify. I have agreed to limit the scope of my requests when informed about some details of a file.

This request is not a broad fishing expedition. I limited the time frame to less than a six month period. Moreover, I am now finishing a long book on the “War on Terror” in the US and seek these records for this book. You may be aware I wrote two previous books on the FBI already (“The Dangers of Dissent” and “Surveillance in America.”) I also sued the FBI for records in Greenberg v FBI ((20008)

I do believe any FBI records from the Counterterrorism Law Section have ever been declassified under the FOIA. Breaking down the FBI’s resistance to such declassification would serve the public interest.

Sincerely
Ivan Greenberg, PhD