Halo Neuroscience

To Whom It May Concern:

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

(1) All emails between Mr. Raj Shah of the Defense Innovation Unit and any employee of Halo Neuroscience. (Your office should be able to search for these records by looking at all emails sent to or from any email address that contains @haloneuro.com).

(2) All emails and corresponding attachments sent to (to:, cc: or bcc:) or from Mr. Raj Shah where the email contains any of the following keywords in the subject or body: "Halo Neuroscience," "brain zapping," or "brain stimulation". Limit responsive emails to those sent between 01/20/2009 and the date this request is processed.

On July 26, 2016, Secretary Carter held a press conference, wherein he discussed the Department of Defense's partnership with Halo Neuroscience. For your benefit, I am enclosing part of Secretary Carter's conversation with Mr. Raj Shah. The full transcript is available here: http://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/858438/remarks-by-secretary-carter-in-a-media-availability-at-a-diux-event-in-boston-m.

SEC. CARTER: Okay. I'll let Raj talk about the specifics of that. I'll just comment on two.

You had many aspects to your excellent question, there. But in terms of the bio sciences, is there -- the bio
sciences, like all technologies in the past will -- will be used for good and for ill.

Our job is to make sure that our -- that our society is protected and that our military is at the frontier of that
field.

With respect to the -- those specific projects -- Raj, why don't you go ahead and talk about Halo a little bit
more? And also any other examples you want to use.

MR. RAJ SHAH: Yes, sir. Thank you.

So -- so, the one that you highlighted is Halo Neuroscience. It's an early stage company that is used by many
leading athletes, Olympic athletes.

And so, what we've done here at the department is to engage with them to see and test whether or not that
technology is applicable to enhancing our combat capability and to see if we need a further engagement.

I am an academic, currently affiliated with the Harvard Law School as well as the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. As such, I ask that all fees be waived for this request, given that this request is being made for exclusively educational purposes. I intend to make all requested documents tied to this request available to the general public and also plan to incorporate them into my academic work on U.S. military history.

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,

Muira McCammon
E-mail (Preferred): muira.n.mccammon@gmail.com
For mailed responses, please address:
Muira McCammon
9 Union Street
Northampton, MA 01060

Dear Department of Defense, Defense Innovation Unit - I'm looking for acknowledgment that you have received and processed my FOIA request regarding Halo Neuroscience. Your response (and acknowledgement of this message) would be greatly appreciated.

Muira McCammon

Hi there,

This FOIA request was submitted in August 2016 to the address media@diux.mil. However, it has not received a response, despite the submission of regular follow ups since the initial email. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much for your time.

______________

To Whom It May Concern:

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

(1) All emails between Mr. Raj Shah of the Defense Innovation Unit and any employee of Halo Neuroscience. (Your office should be able to search for these records by looking at all emails sent to or from any email address that contains @haloneuro.com).

(2) All emails and corresponding attachments sent to (to:, cc: or bcc:) or from Mr. Raj Shah where the email contains any of the following keywords in the subject or body: "Halo Neuroscience," "brain zapping," or "brain stimulation". Limit responsive emails to those sent between 01/20/2009 and the date this request is processed.

On July 26, 2016, Secretary Carter held a press conference, wherein he discussed the Department of Defense's partnership with Halo Neuroscience. For your benefit, I am enclosing part of Secretary Carter's conversation with Mr. Raj Shah. The full transcript is available here: http://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/858438/remarks-by-secretary-carter-in-a-media-availability-at-a-diux-event-in-boston-m.

SEC. CARTER: Okay. I'll let Raj talk about the specifics of that. I'll just comment on two.

You had many aspects to your excellent question, there. But in terms of the bio sciences, is there -- the bio
sciences, like all technologies in the past will -- will be used for good and for ill.

Our job is to make sure that our -- that our society is protected and that our military is at the frontier of that
field.

With respect to the -- those specific projects -- Raj, why don't you go ahead and talk about Halo a little bit
more? And also any other examples you want to use.

MR. RAJ SHAH: Yes, sir. Thank you.

So -- so, the one that you highlighted is Halo Neuroscience. It's an early stage company that is used by many
leading athletes, Olympic athletes.

And so, what we've done here at the department is to engage with them to see and test whether or not that
technology is applicable to enhancing our combat capability and to see if we need a further engagement.

I am an academic, currently affiliated with the Harvard Law School as well as the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. As such, I ask that all fees be waived for this request, given that this request is being made for exclusively educational purposes. I intend to make all requested documents tied to this request available to the general public and also plan to incorporate them into my academic work on U.S. military history.

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,

Muira McCammon
E-mail (Preferred): muira.n.mccammon@gmail.com
For mailed responses, please address:
Muira McCammon
9 Union Street
Northampton, MA 01060

Dear Mr. Hersson Stout,

Apologies - but I am at an utter loss as to why my FOIA request has not received timely attention from your office. Your communications thus far have been sporadic and very limited in explanatory/communicative depth.

You communicated your last update to me via email on June 13 and expressed, "Your request has been submitted, once approved, it will be forwarded to you."

I am looking for an update.

Thank you in advance,

Muira McCammon

Dear Mr. Hersson Stout,

Apologies - but I am at an utter loss as to why my FOIA request has not received timely attention from your office. Your communications thus far have been sporadic and very limited in explanatory/communicative depth. This is unacceptable.

You communicated your last update to me via email on June 13, 2017 (!!!!) and expressed, "Your request has been submitted, once approved, it will be forwarded to you."

I am looking for an update as well as a clear articulation as to what is going on at your end.

In confusion,
Muira

Hello,

This request for the Defense Innovation Unit was directed to media@diux.mil and hersson@diux.mil. Could you please acknowledge it at this point and/or direct us to the appropriate submission agency?

Thanks so much for your time and help.
________________________________

To Whom It May Concern:

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

(1) All emails between Mr. Raj Shah of the Defense Innovation Unit and any employee of Halo Neuroscience. (Your office should be able to search for these records by looking at all emails sent to or from any email address that contains @haloneuro.com).

(2) All emails and corresponding attachments sent to (to:, cc: or bcc:) or from Mr. Raj Shah where the email contains any of the following keywords in the subject or body: "Halo Neuroscience," "brain zapping," or "brain stimulation". Limit responsive emails to those sent between 01/20/2009 and the date this request is processed.

On July 26, 2016, Secretary Carter held a press conference, wherein he discussed the Department of Defense's partnership with Halo Neuroscience. For your benefit, I am enclosing part of Secretary Carter's conversation with Mr. Raj Shah. The full transcript is available here: http://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/858438/remarks-by-secretary-carter-in-a-media-availability-at-a-diux-event-in-boston-m.

SEC. CARTER: Okay. I'll let Raj talk about the specifics of that. I'll just comment on two.

You had many aspects to your excellent question, there. But in terms of the bio sciences, is there -- the bio
sciences, like all technologies in the past will -- will be used for good and for ill.

Our job is to make sure that our -- that our society is protected and that our military is at the frontier of that
field.

With respect to the -- those specific projects -- Raj, why don't you go ahead and talk about Halo a little bit
more? And also any other examples you want to use.

MR. RAJ SHAH: Yes, sir. Thank you.

So -- so, the one that you highlighted is Halo Neuroscience. It's an early stage company that is used by many
leading athletes, Olympic athletes.

And so, what we've done here at the department is to engage with them to see and test whether or not that
technology is applicable to enhancing our combat capability and to see if we need a further engagement.

I am an academic, currently affiliated with the Harvard Law School as well as the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. As such, I ask that all fees be waived for this request, given that this request is being made for exclusively educational purposes. I intend to make all requested documents tied to this request available to the general public and also plan to incorporate them into my academic work on U.S. military history.

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,

Muira McCammon
E-mail (Preferred): muira.n.mccammon@gmail.com
For mailed responses, please address:
Muira McCammon
9 Union Street
Northampton, MA 01060

Dear Patty Crawford,

Thank you for at long last addressing my concerns. I never received a confirmation response and have spent the past year attempting to get one.

Your prompt assistance with this matter would be greatly appreciated.

BEST,
Muira McCammon
muira.mccammon@asc.upenn.edu

Hello,

We have long since stopped receiving responses to this request, and our office has submitted two other requests intended for the Department of Defense, Defense Innovation Unit. Could you please provide the correct contact information in order to get these requests processed appropriately?

Thank you very much for your help. We look forward to hearing from you.

If this is not a good email address to use to submit FOIA requests, please direct us to the appropriate contact information.

Thank you.
________________

Hi there,

This FOIA request was submitted in August 2016 to the address media@diux.mil. However, it has not received a response, despite the submission of regular follow ups since the initial email. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much for your time.

______________

To Whom It May Concern:

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

(1) All emails between Mr. Raj Shah of the Defense Innovation Unit and any employee of Halo Neuroscience. (Your office should be able to search for these records by looking at all emails sent to or from any email address that contains @haloneuro.com).

(2) All emails and corresponding attachments sent to (to:, cc: or bcc:) or from Mr. Raj Shah where the email contains any of the following keywords in the subject or body: "Halo Neuroscience," "brain zapping," or "brain stimulation". Limit responsive emails to those sent between 01/20/2009 and the date this request is processed.

On July 26, 2016, Secretary Carter held a press conference, wherein he discussed the Department of Defense's partnership with Halo Neuroscience. For your benefit, I am enclosing part of Secretary Carter's conversation with Mr. Raj Shah. The full transcript is available here: http://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/858438/remarks-by-secretary-carter-in-a-media-availability-at-a-diux-event-in-boston-m.

SEC. CARTER: Okay. I'll let Raj talk about the specifics of that. I'll just comment on two.

You had many aspects to your excellent question, there. But in terms of the bio sciences, is there -- the bio
sciences, like all technologies in the past will -- will be used for good and for ill.

Our job is to make sure that our -- that our society is protected and that our military is at the frontier of that
field.

With respect to the -- those specific projects -- Raj, why don't you go ahead and talk about Halo a little bit
more? And also any other examples you want to use.

MR. RAJ SHAH: Yes, sir. Thank you.

So -- so, the one that you highlighted is Halo Neuroscience. It's an early stage company that is used by many
leading athletes, Olympic athletes.

And so, what we've done here at the department is to engage with them to see and test whether or not that
technology is applicable to enhancing our combat capability and to see if we need a further engagement.

I am an academic, currently affiliated with the Harvard Law School as well as the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. As such, I ask that all fees be waived for this request, given that this request is being made for exclusively educational purposes. I intend to make all requested documents tied to this request available to the general public and also plan to incorporate them into my academic work on U.S. military history.

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,

Muira McCammon
E-mail (Preferred): muira.n.mccammon@gmail.com
For mailed responses, please address:
Muira McCammon
9 Union Street
Northampton, MA 01060