Information Sharing Policies (OLC)

Avinash Samarth filed this request with the Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel of the United States of America.
Tracking #

14-090
Submitted Sept. 25, 2014
Est. Completion None
Status
Withdrawn

Communications

From: Avinash Samarth

Subject: None

Email

To Whom It May Concern:

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

Any memoranda, training materials, guidelines, statements of policy, legal advice, legal opinions, and legal briefs regarding the sharing of intelligence-community information between the NSA and any domestic law enforcement agencies, including, but not limited to, the DEA and/or the FBI.

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According to a report by Reuters, the DEA's Special Operations Division has a practice of obtaining intelligence-community information from the NSA for use in domestic law enforcement efforts. John Shiffman & Kristina Cooke, Reuters (Aug. 5, 2013), available at http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/05/us-dea-sod-idUSBRE97409R20130805.

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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,

Avinash Samarth

From: USDOJ-Office of Legal Counsel (SMO)

Subject: None

Email

Dear Mr. Samarth,

Attached is the acknowledgement letter for your FOIA request 14-090.

Bette Farris

From: MuckRock.com

Subject: None

Email

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Sept. 25, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #14-090.

Thank you for your help.

From: Nitze, Jane (OLC)

Subject: None

Email

Dear Mr. Samarth:

I am writing in response to your email inquiring when you can expect to receive a response to FOIA request FY14-090, and whether further clarification is needed. Because of the breadth of your request, we will be required to search numerous record collections in our office, including email repositories and paper files. I also note that your request does not specify any period of time for our search, requiring us to search record collections dating back many years. Given these factors, and the fact that numerous other requests submitted before yours are also awaiting processing, we estimate that it will take 18-24 months to fully process your request.

You may wish to narrow the parameters of your request in order to speed its processing. In particular, limiting the requested records to final legal advice (that is, legal advice that has been provided by our office to an outside client as the view of our office) would substantially limit the number of record collections we would be required to search, allowing us to process your request more efficiently. I also note in this respect that, given the functions of the Office of Legal Counsel, we are generally not the primary custodians of policy or operational documents, such as the "training materials, guidelines, [and] statements of policy" that you request. In addition, limiting your request to documents from a specific period of time would also permit more efficient processing of your request. Finally, although we have made no decision with respect to your request for a fee waiver, reducing the processing time for your request would also reduce the amount of any fees that may be assessed.

If you wish to discuss narrowing your request, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you,
Janie Nitze
Attorney Adviser
Office of Legal Counsel
202 514 3658

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