FBI StingRay NDA log

To Whom It May Concern:

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

A log of all state and local law enforcement that have completed non-disclosure agreements consistent with the conditions on the equipment authorization granted to Harris Corporation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) prior to the acquisition and use of the equipment/technology authorized by the FCC authorization.

I have attached one such NDA completed by the Tacoma Police Department in January 2013.

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,

Shawn Musgrave

Director, Office of Information Policy (OIP)
US Department of Justice
1425 New York Ave., NW, Suite 11050
Washington, DC 20530-0001

October 9, 2014

To Whom It May Concern:

This is an appeal of rejection of FOIA request 1299994-000, in which I requested a log of state and local law enforcement that have completed non-disclosure agreements with the FBI regarding the use and acquisition of particular technology.

In the enclosed rejection letter, FBI FOIA staff mischaracterize my request as well as their obligations under the FOIA statute. Contrary to their determination, my FOIA is a request for reasonably described, nonexempt records. I have clearly outlined a request for a particular document such that an employee of the agency would be able to locate the record with a reasonable amount of effort.

While the FBI indicates that "the FBI Central Records System is not arranged in a manner that allows for the retrieval of information in the form for which you have requested" and that "Items are indexed according to individual investigatory interests and not logs of information," its FOIA staff have made the transparent error of checking an investigative database for records of an administrative error. This is a habitual error on the part of the FBI FOIA staff, in that staffers routinely narrow the scope of their search to investigative sources. The document requested herein is not of an investigative nature, and so the FBI's response that it is unable to search the Central Records index for the requested document has no bearing.

For this and any other reasons deemed appropriate by the review authority, I request that this request be remanded back to the FBI for a good faith search for documents in keeping with their obligations under FOIA and principles of transparent governance.

Respectfully,

Shawn Musgrave
MuckRock