HQMC-201000446 records (USMC Air Station - Cherry Point)

To Whom It May Concern:

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

All records concerning the processing of FOIA request HQMC-201000446 including any later records concerning the release of the video which was the subject of HQMC-201000446.

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

United States Marine Corps
Marine Corps Air Station
Postal Service Center Box 8003
Cherry Point, NC 28533-0003
December 31, 2013

Dear FOIA Officer:

I am responding to your letter marked 5720/CPNC2014F0071, Dec 23 2013 concerning my request for “All records concerning the processing of FOIA request HQMC-201000446 including any later records concerning the release of the video which was the subject of HQMC-201000446.”

You have stated that a fee is required to process this request. Further you stated that you have aggregated my request with several other requests for billing purposes both with older requests that have already been processed and with a more recent request to the HQMC FOIA office. Although it is important to note that even the more recent request was submitted more than 30 days apart from this request.

Please note that the Freedom of Information Act only allows you to aggregate requests if you reasonably believe the requests attempting to circumvent the regular fee schedule. Further, you must reasonably believe that is the only reason the requester submitted multiple requests. If there is any other reason behind the submission of multiple requests, you may not aggregate requests for fee purposes.

Your office responds to FOIA requests independently from the HQMC FOIA office. Since you act independently from that office, it is reasonable to submit one request for your records directly to you while submitting a separate request to the HQMC FOIA office for their records. This is done because you operate independently and not because I am attempting to avoid paying fees, It would only serve to create additional delay to submit a single request to the HQMC FOIA office knowing that they would in turn redirect the request to your office for direct response to me. This is the purpose in sending two requests, one to your office and one to the HQMC office. Thus, it is improper to combine the requests since it would be unreasonable to believe that the sole reason for my two requests is to avoid fees.

Concerning the various requests that may be related to this request, I assert that I am in no way attempting to avoid fees in the submission of multiple requests, rather, I have submitted multiple requests over a period of time to find various records and doing so has required the multiple requests.

Identical requests over time were made clearly to seek the newer records created since the previous request. Requesting records created since the last time a similar request was made is clearly a request for new records on the same subject, not to be aggregated with the previous requests for older records on that subject. I am hereby narrowing my request to your office to exclude from responsive records any records previously released to me to be clear I am seeking different records. However, I was unaware of any previous search of records under your authority, thus the reason for my request for “all records concerning...”

Further, please note that the Department of Navy FOIA regulations as codified states it is difficult to maintain that requests made more than 30 days apart are able to be aggregated. I do not believe there were any similar requests made within 30 days of this request.

Additionally, you have provided me with a fee requirement without explaining in any way what the fee is for. Please provide an explanation of the fee you are requesting. Please include the search plan including the number of hours per pay grade you are charging me for and the estimate copy fee. Please indicate which two hours in the search plan are done at no charge per the fee guidelines.

Finally, please respond with my appeal rights and the procedure for appeal if you continue to provide an adverse determination.

Thank you very much.

Regards,
Jason Smathers