FOIA Log 1/20/2009 - present (Army Audit Agency)

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 FOIA requests made between 1/20/2009 and the date this request is processed. If for any reason you do not maintain a log of FOIA requests, you can either create one if you choose to do so or in the alternative I hereby request all initial FOIA request letters and final response letters held by the Army Audit Agency where they were created in the same time frame of 1/20/09-present.

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,

Jason Smathers

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

Hello,

According to our records, this request was submitted in 2011 but never received. Please confirm receipt and provide a tracking number if one has not already been assigned to it.

Thank you.

More than two years have passed since submitting this request and I have not received even an acknowledgement. Please provide me an estimated date of completion for this request.

This request was submitted on 11/17/11. I submitted follow up requests for this request on the following days:
Jan. 10, 2012
Feb. 26, 2012
May 8, 2012
June 7, 2012
Aug. 14, 2012
Sept. 13, 2012
Oct. 13, 2012
Nov. 12, 2012
Dec. 12, 2012
Jan. 15, 2013
Feb. 14, 2013
April 4, 2013
May 15, 2013
June 14, 2013
July 14, 2013
Aug. 13, 2013
Sept. 12, 2013
Oct. 12, 2013
Oct. 22, 2013
Nov. 25, 2013

You failed to do even the most basic acknowledgement of my request dispute twenty-one letters to your office. Now, you have acknowledge the request, but refuse to accept it because you claim I am attempting to avoid fees. The truth however is clearly apparent. I do agree to fees billed in the "other" requester fee category up to $12. If fees are expected to exceed this amount, please let me know so I can consider expanding my willingness to pay fees or consider narrowing my request.

Please process this request without attempting to combine it with requests sent nearly two years later.

Thank you!

Concerning this request, I agree to fees up to $12 billed under the "other" requester fee category. If fees are expected to exceed this amount, please let me know so that I can either adjust my willingness to pay fees or attempt to narrow the scope of this request.

I understand your concern over my several requests in a single day. However, I think we can agree that any reasonable review of these requests will find a sweeping range in topics. Each request is on s separate subject and are linked only by being submitted to your office on the same day. There was no attempt to avoid fees in the separation of requests into multiple requests. Rather, a unique request was made for each unique subject matter. Further, I think you are aware that the FOIA does not allow for a request to be denied based on the mere fact that you believe multiple requests are on the same subject and require consolidation. If for some reason you will not process my requests individually and insist on consolidation, please provide notice that you are doing so along with appeal rights and details so that I can escalate this matter.

Thank you very much for your reconsideration. I hope we are able to settle this matter without escalate.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Nov. 17, 2011. 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 Nov. 17, 2011. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

To:
US Army Audit Agency
Attn: FOIA Officer
Building 1464
6000 Sixth Street
Ft. Belvoir, VA 22060

Copy to:
Office of the General Counsel
104 Army Pentagon, RM 3C546
Washington, DC 20310-0104

Dear Appeals Authority:

This is an appeal under the Freedom of Information Act concerning a FOIA request sent to the Army Audit Agency.

On November 17, 2011 I requested “A log of all FOIA requests made between 1/20/2009 and the date this request is processed. If for any reason you do not maintain a log of FOIA requests, you can either create one if you choose to do so or in the alternative I hereby request all initial FOIA request letters and final response letters held by the Army Audit Agency where they were created in the same time frame of 1/20/09-present.”

After my initial request on 11/17/2011, I made follow up requests to the Army Audit Agency on the following dates:
Jan. 10, 2012
Feb. 26, 2012
May 8, 2012
June 7, 2012
Aug. 14, 2012
Sept. 13, 2012
Oct. 13, 2012
Nov. 12, 2012
Dec. 12, 2012
Jan. 15, 2013
Feb. 14, 2013
April 4, 2013
May 15, 2013
June 14, 2013
July 14, 2013
Aug. 13, 2013
Sept. 12, 2013
Oct. 12, 2013
Oct. 22, 2013
Nov. 25, 2013
Dec. 9, 2013
Jan. 9, 2014
Feb. 7, 2014

Despite these twenty-four attempts to obtain the records directly from the Army Audit Agency, I have not received even an acknowledgement of the FOIA request.

The only letter that I have received from the Army Audit Agency that ostensibly concerns this FOIA request is a letter dated December 2, 2013 which states “you have failed to adhere to the published FOIA standards which have been deemed reasonable. Therefore, we will not process any of your FOIA requests at this time.” However, this letter does not mention any FOIA request specifically, so it is impossible to know exactly how they found my 11/17/2011 request deficient, or if they even had that request in mind. I can only assume that the Army Audit Agency is not processing my 11/17/2011 request whether or not it was in view of the 12/2/2013 AAA letter because they have not provided any acknowledgement of the request in over two years and have ignored my twenty four attempts to communicate with them concerning the request.

In my 12/9/2013 follow up correspondence to the AAA, I requested appeals details if they were going to continue to refuse to process my request. However, to date, I have not received a response to that inquiry. Since the AAA has not provided me with details on how to appeal their adverse determination. I am sending this appeal to the Army General Counsel as I understand they are responsible for appeals at other Army components. I am also sending a copy to the initial denial authority in hopes that between the two this appeal will reach the proper authority and be considered.

I appeal the following:
1) The failure to acknowledge this request.
2) The failure to assign this request a tracking number.
3) The failure to provide an estimated date of completion as required by statue when requested.
4) The refusal to accept my FOIA request for whatever reason(s) they may have had.
5) The determination that I have made multiple requests on the same subject to avoid paying fees. Thus I request that you instruct the AAA to treat separate requests separately. Note that we are discussing requests submitted years apart from each other on vastly different topics.
6) The refusal of the Army Audit Agency to provide proper details for appealing adverse determinations made by the initial denial authority.

For the reasons herein and for all other reasons deemed appropriate by the appeals authority, I hereby appeal.

Regards,
Jason Smathers

US Army Audit Agency
Attn: FOIA Officer
Building 1464
6000 Sixth Street
Ft. Belvoir, VA 22060

Copy to:
Office of the General Counsel
104 Army Pentagon, RM 3C546
Washington, DC 20310-0104

Dear Appeals Authority:

This is a followup to an appeal (copied below) sent in March of 2014 that has yet to be acknowledged. Please advise.

***

Dear Appeals Authority:

This is an appeal under the Freedom of Information Act concerning a FOIA request sent to the Army Audit Agency.

On November 17, 2011 I requested “A log of all FOIA requests made between 1/20/2009 and the date this request is processed. If for any reason you do not maintain a log of FOIA requests, you can either create one if you choose to do so or in the alternative I hereby request all initial FOIA request letters and final response letters held by the Army Audit Agency where they were created in the same time frame of 1/20/09-present.”

After my initial request on 11/17/2011, I made follow up requests to the Army Audit Agency on the following dates:
Jan. 10, 2012
Feb. 26, 2012
May 8, 2012
June 7, 2012
Aug. 14, 2012
Sept. 13, 2012
Oct. 13, 2012
Nov. 12, 2012
Dec. 12, 2012
Jan. 15, 2013
Feb. 14, 2013
April 4, 2013
May 15, 2013
June 14, 2013
July 14, 2013
Aug. 13, 2013
Sept. 12, 2013
Oct. 12, 2013
Oct. 22, 2013
Nov. 25, 2013
Dec. 9, 2013
Jan. 9, 2014
Feb. 7, 2014

Despite these twenty-four attempts to obtain the records directly from the Army Audit Agency, I have not received even an acknowledgement of the FOIA request.

The only letter that I have received from the Army Audit Agency that ostensibly concerns this FOIA request is a letter dated December 2, 2013 which states “you have failed to adhere to the published FOIA standards which have been deemed reasonable. Therefore, we will not process any of your FOIA requests at this time.” However, this letter does not mention any FOIA request specifically, so it is impossible to know exactly how they found my 11/17/2011 request deficient, or if they even had that request in mind. I can only assume that the Army Audit Agency is not processing my 11/17/2011 request whether or not it was in view of the 12/2/2013 AAA letter because they have not provided any acknowledgement of the request in over two years and have ignored my twenty four attempts to communicate with them concerning the request.

In my 12/9/2013 follow up correspondence to the AAA, I requested appeals details if they were going to continue to refuse to process my request. However, to date, I have not received a response to that inquiry. Since the AAA has not provided me with details on how to appeal their adverse determination. I am sending this appeal to the Army General Counsel as I understand they are responsible for appeals at other Army components. I am also sending a copy to the initial denial authority in hopes that between the two this appeal will reach the proper authority and be considered.

I appeal the following:
1) The failure to acknowledge this request.
2) The failure to assign this request a tracking number.
3) The failure to provide an estimated date of completion as required by statue when requested.
4) The refusal to accept my FOIA request for whatever reason(s) they may have had.
5) The determination that I have made multiple requests on the same subject to avoid paying fees. Thus I request that you instruct the AAA to treat separate requests separately. Note that we are discussing requests submitted years apart from each other on vastly different topics.
6) The refusal of the Army Audit Agency to provide proper details for appealing adverse determinations made by the initial denial authority.

For the reasons herein and for all other reasons deemed appropriate by the appeals authority, I hereby appeal.

Regards,
Jason Smathers

Please provide me with a status of my request and appeal including estimated dates of completion. Thank you.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Nov. 17, 2011. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #Appeal 1504138320.

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 Nov. 17, 2011. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #Appeal 1504138320.

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 Nov. 17, 2011. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #Appeal 1504138320.

Thank you for your help.

Upon appeal, the US Army general counsel has ruled that your determination that my request was not perfected was inappropriate and has remanded my request back to your office. Please immediately provide me with a tracking number and an estimated date of completion, then promptly thereafter provide the records requested.

Thank you.

Regards,
Jason Smathers

Original request:

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 FOIA requests made between 1/20/2009 and the date this request is processed. If for any reason you do not maintain a log of FOIA requests, you can either create one if you choose to do so or in the alternative I hereby request all initial FOIA request letters and final response letters held by the Army Audit Agency where they were created in the same time frame of 1/20/09-present.

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,

Jason Smathers

(Please note that in a follow up I agreed to fees up to $12, however, also note that your ability to charge fees is now limited for failing to meet the 20 day deadline per statute)

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Nov. 17, 2011. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #Appeal 1504138320.

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 Nov. 17, 2011. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #Appeal 1504138320.

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

Hi there,

A copy of the initial request is copied below.

Thank you.
___________________________

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 FOIA requests made between 1/20/2009 and the date this request is processed. If for any reason you do not maintain a log of FOIA requests, you can either create one if you choose to do so or in the alternative I hereby request all initial FOIA request letters and final response letters held by the Army Audit Agency where they were created in the same time frame of 1/20/09-present.

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,

Jason Smathers