Journalist impersonation at federal law enforcement agencies (Bureau of Land Management)

Good afternoon Parker Higgins:

Our FOIA office received your FOIA request dated July 27, 2018 and assigned
it control number 2018-01149. Please cite this number in any future
communications regarding your request.

In your request you asked for the following:

"All records such as policies, manuals, guidelines, and directives,
including but not limited to electronic records, concerning undercover
operations or activities in which a person may act as a member of the news
media or infiltrate media organizations. This request includes, but is not
limited to, the guidelines and policies related to criminal and national
security operations review committees, and records relating to agency
undercover impersonation applications and approval processes, including
assessment of the need for an undercover operation. This request includes
but is not limited to undercover operations involving impersonation of
journalists or members of the news media, or such records relating to
agency infiltration of media organizations. This request includes such
records relating to any sensitive circumstances of undercover operations,
including those that may require additional review (and records relating to
those review processes).

We have classified you as an “news media” requester. As such, we may charge
you for duplication costs, but we will not charge you for our search and
review costs; you are also entitled to up to 2 hours of search time and 100
pages of photocopies (or an equivalent volume) for free. See 43 C.F.R. §
2.39. If, after taking into consideration your fee category entitlements,
our processing costs are less than $50.00, we will not bill you because the
cost of collection would be greater than the fee collected. See 43 C.F.R. §
2.49(a)(1).

We use Multitrack Processing to process FOIA requests. The Simple track is
for requests that can be processed in one to five workdays. The
Normal track is for requests that can be processed in six to twenty
workdays. The Complex track is for requests that can be processed in
twenty-one to sixty workdays. The Exceptional/Voluminous track is
for requests requiring more than sixty workdays for processing. The
Expedited track is for requests that have been granted expedited
processing. Within each track, requests are usually processed on a
first-in, first-out basis.

This request falls into the *Complex* track.

Even though we normally process requests on a first-in, first-out basis,
because of the nature of your request and the circumstances surrounding
this request, we will prioritize and process your request as the records
become available.

If you have any questions, please contact us at BLM_WO_FOIA@blm.gov or
202-912-7650. Thank you for your interest in public lands and in programs
and activities of the BLM.

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Washington Office FOIA Coordinators
Bureau of Land Management
Phone: 202-912-7650
Fax: 202-245-0027
*BLM_WO_FOIA@blm.gov <BLM_WO_FOIA@blm.gov>*

Hello,

We are writing to narrow the scope of your request. As written, it could
potentially take a substantial amount of time to search and gather the
records. Is there a particular date range you are interested in?

Thank you,
Keiosha

[image: Inline image 1]
Washington Office FOIA Coordinators
Bureau of Land Management
Phone: 202-912-7650
Fax: 202-245-0027
*BLM_WO_FOIA@blm.gov <BLM_WO_FOIA@blm.gov>*

Hello,

We are writing to narrow the scope of your request. As written, it could
potentially take a substantial amount of time to search and gather the
records. Is there a particular date range you are interested in? If we
don't hear anything back from you, this request will be administratively
closed.

Thank you,
Keiosha

[image: Inline image 1]
Washington Office FOIA Coordinators
Bureau of Land Management
Phone: 202-912-7650
Fax: 202-245-0027
*BLM_WO_FOIA@blm.gov <BLM_WO_FOIA@blm.gov>*

On July 20, 2018, you made a FOIA request to BLM for:

Records concerning undercover operations or activities in which a person may act as a member of the news media or infiltrate media organizations. This request includes, but is not limited to, the guidelines and policies related to criminal and national security operations review committees, and records relating to agency undercover impersonation applications and approval processes, including assessment of the need for an undercover operation.

Currently the Bureau is inquiring to see if you have a continuing interest in receiving records responsive to this request. We are attempting to best service all our requesters by working on cases for which there is an ongoing and continuing need.

If we do not receive your reply in the affirmative within 60 business days, the BLM will assume you are no longer interested in pursuing this request and we will administratively close it.

Thank you,

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