Los Alamos Info & Security Posters

To Whom It May Concern:

1) This is a FOIA Request
This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

All information security and security posters created by or displayed at or archived by what is now Los Alamos National Laboratory and its predecessor entities (including, for example, but not limited to Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and its Manhattan Project predecessor). You may restrict your search to records between and including the dates of January 1, 1943 to December 31, 1969. Please when available provide provenance such as artist, date created/displayed, and division.

To assist with finding some of these records please note that the "Information Security Branch, Los Alamos Field Office" was involved in producing at least some records responsive to this request. My provision of that information should not be regarded as a request that you restrict your search only to records produced by that entity.

As the FOIA requires please release all reasonably segregable portions of responsive records. If you withhold records or portions of records then please indicate under which exemption you claim to do so and provide me with my options for appeal.

2) Fees and Fee Status
I am a PhD student at the University of New Mexico and the information requested is for academic and public education purposes, including my PhD dissertation project, and not primarily for commercial use. Furthermore, I will make responsive records available to the public via my academic publications and presentations as well as on social media and my blog and the news organization MuckRock.Org. Please note that you can access my UNM student profile page at the following url: https://anthropology.unm.edu/people/grad-students/profile/martin-pfeiffer.html.

Therefore, as per Sack v. DOD (2016) I qualify for educational institution fee status and ask that you process my request accordingly. In your response please confirm that you will be processing my request under the educational institution fee status. I agree to pay fees up to $30 without additional notice. In the event that there are fees exceeding $30 then please inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request.

3) Record Delivery and Communications
I hereby request that all records generated by this request be delivered in electronic format via email or, if that is not possible, on CD-ROM if available. If you have any questions or information regarding this request then please do not hesitate to contact me, preferably via email. Please provide an email address through which I can contact you to discuss this request. You may, and I request that you do so, engage in rolling release of responsive documents.

I look forward to receiving your response within the twenty day statutory period. Thank you for your anticipated cooperation and time in this matter.

Regards,
Martin Pfeiffer

Dear Ms. Martinez,

Thank you for your message and for sending the acknowledgment letter. I acknowledge that two submissions have been aggregated into one request.

Have a great weekend.

-marty-
Martin Pfeiffer

THIS IS A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT APPEAL

I) THIS IS A FOIA APPEAL
I am writing to appeal the negative determination provided to me by NNSA on or about July 3, 2019 in which NNSA declared a supposed ability to locate responsive records in FOIA 19-00128-KM (you may review the relevant correspondence at the following link as I use Muckrock.com to keep track of my FOIA requests and I can provide PDFs if requested: https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/los-alamos-info-security-posters-70154

2) Justification for Appeal

A) It is impossible for me to assess the thoroughness and adequacy of the search procedures conducted in response to this request based on the description provided to me by Ms. Martinez. That description is referentially equivalent to "we asked some offices and they said no." For example, did anyone specifically contact the ""Information Security Branch, Los Alamos Field Office" and its equivalent or successor entities? Did anyone contact the Los Alamos Laboratory office responsible for designing, printing, and posting these information security notices? If not then why not because that would seem to be a very obvious and minimal step for carrying out a search for responsive records to this request.

B) Although the (non)provision of records cannot be regarded as showing a failure to properly search, it can still be suggestive especially in extreme cases. Basically, NNSA is claiming that they can't locate ANYTHING from 40 years of Los Alamos history despite Los Alamos being festooned with security, safety and information markings since it's founding. Absent an explanation of how this voluminous set of records completely disappeared from history it is difficult to consider this as having been an adequate search given the seeming absurdity of the claim made that not a single previously unreleased record could be found.

C) I would further note that NNSA made no effort to contact me to further clarify my request or to seek additional information that could assist with locating records.

3) Remedy Sought
I ask that this request be remanded back to NNSA for a thorough and proper search for responsive records. I further ask that OHA require that NNSA provide me with the detailed information about this and future searches necessary to judge the adequacy of NNSA search efforts.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to your response.

Regards,
-marty-
Martin Pfeiffer

Ms. Martin,

Thank you for your message and acknowledgment letter. I appreciate your consideration and effort.

Regards,
-marty-
Martin Pfeiffer

Ms. Bowman,

Thank you for your message and for your notifying me that a new final response will be issued. I appreciate your effort and consideration on this and my other FOIA requests.

Have a good day.

Regards,
-marty-
Martin Pfeiffer

Hi,

Thanks so much for your help with this request! I really appreciate it.

Sincerely,
Martin Pfeiffer