Harold Woodruff (FBI @ NARA)

Dear Ms. Best,

Thank you for submitting your Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act
request to the National Archives and Records Administration.

Due to the nature of your request, we have forwarded your request (received
in our office on July 7, 2017) to our Office of Research Services, Special
Access and FOIA staff, for appropriate handling. You will be assigned a new
tracking number by that office within the next 20 business days. If you
would like to follow up with that office directly please contact them at
specialaccess_FOIA@nara.gov.

For your reference, your original submission follows.

Thank you for contacting the National Archives and please visit our website
at www.archives.gov/foia for further information.

Please also visit our main website, www.archives.gov, to learn more about
the many exciting resources we offer the public.

Sincerely,

Jodi L. Foor

Deputy Freedom of Information Act Officer/Archivist

National Archives and Records Administration

Office of General Counsel

College Park, MD

301-837-2099

Jodi.Foor@nara.gov

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <requests@muckrock.com>
Date: Fri, Jul 7, 2017 at 6:12 AM
Subject: Freedom of Information Request: Harold Woodruff (FBI @ NARA)
To: foia@nara.gov

July 7, 2017
National Archives and Records Administration
FOIA Officer
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road, Room 3110
College Park, MD 20740

To Whom It May Concern:

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

FBI records relating to or mentioning Harold Woodruff, including but not
limited to file number 105-HQ-66605 Serial 31, referred by the FBI.

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I am
freelance writer who has previously written about the government and its
activities for MuckRock, Motherboard, Unicorn Riot, AND Magazine and Glomar
Disclosure. My articles have been widely read, with some reaching over
100,000 readers. My work has been further discussed in outlets including
the New York Times, the Washington Post, and BBC. 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 regarding the subject and how I will apply
the information), 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,

Emma Best

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PLEASE NOTE: This request is not filed by a MuckRock staff member, but is
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