LymeScience.org CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Tracking # |
21-00401-FOIA |
Multi Request | LymeScience.org CDC |
Submitted | Dec. 9, 2020 |
Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Justin Sparks
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
Any and all emails or other agency communications, including memorandums or reports, from 2017 to the present date, referring to or mentioning the website Lymescience.org and/or the federal lawsuit filed in Texas, captioned Torrey vs. IDSA.
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,
Justin Sparks
From: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Dear Justin Sparks,
Case Number 21-00401-FOIA has been assigned to the request you submitted. In all future correspondence regarding this request please reference case number 21-00401-FOIA.
Regards,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention / Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
From: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Dear Sparks,Justin,
The status of your FOIA request #21-00401-FOIA has been updated to the following status 'Received'. To log into the CDC FOIA Public Access Link click on the Application URL below.
https://foia.cdc.gov/
Sincerely,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention / Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
From: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
December 23, 2020
Request Number: 21-00401-FOIA
Dear Mr. Sparks: This is regarding your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of December 21, 2020, for To Whom It May Concern:Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:Any and all emails or other agency communications, including memorandums or reports, from 2017 to the present date, referring to or mentioning the website Lymescience.org and/or the federal lawsuit filed in Texas, captioned Torrey vs. IDSA.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,Justin SparksUpload documents directly: https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://www.muckrock.com/ (Date Range for Record Search: From 01/01/2017 To 12/21/2020).
Please see the attached letter.
Sincerely,
CDC/ATSDR FOIA Office
770-488-6399
From: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
December 23, 2020
Request Number: 21-00401-FOIA
Dear Mr. Sparks: This is regarding your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of December 21, 2020, for To Whom It May Concern:Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:Any and all emails or other agency communications, including memorandums or reports, from 2017 to the present date, referring to or mentioning the website Lymescience.org and/or the federal lawsuit filed in Texas, captioned Torrey vs. IDSA.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,Justin SparksUpload documents directly: https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://www.muckrock.com/ (Date Range for Record Search: From 01/01/2017 To 12/21/2020).
Please see the attached letter.
Sincerely,
CDC/ATSDR FOIA Office
770-488-6399
From: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Dear Sparks,Justin,
The status of your FOIA request #21-00401-FOIA has been updated to the following status 'On Hold - Need Info/Clarification'. To log into the CDC FOIA Public Access Link click on the Application URL below.
https://foia.cdc.gov/
Sincerely,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention / Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
From: Justin Sparks
Please see attached.
From: Justin Sparks
It has been nearly two weeks since my last correspondence, and I've received no response. Can you please update me on the status of this request?
Thank you.
From: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
January 28, 2021
Request Number: 21-00401-FOIA
Dear Mr. Sparks: This is regarding your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of December 21, 2020, for To Whom It May Concern:Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:Any and all emails or other agency communications, including memorandums or reports, from 2017 to the present date, referring to or mentioning the website Lymescience.org and/or the federal lawsuit filed in Texas, captioned Torrey vs. IDSA.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,Justin SparksUpload documents directly: https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://www.muckrock.com/ (Date Range for Record Search: From 01/01/2017 To 12/21/2020).
Please see the attached letter.
Sincerely,
CDC/ATSDR FOIA Office
770-488-6399
From: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Dear Sparks,Justin,
The status of your FOIA request #21-00401-FOIA has been updated to the following status 'Closed'. To log into the CDC FOIA Public Access Link click on the Application URL below.
https://foia.cdc.gov/
Sincerely,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention / Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
From: Justin Sparks
Please see the attached preliminary lists of agency employees to search. It should be noted that no other organization in the HHS that received a similar request for records insisted that I identify specific employees and this is in no way an admission that you are legally able to require this before searching for responsive records. I reserve the right to request a declaratory judgment that this conduct is illegal. Also, please see an additional request below for certain documents related to the CDC's emails systems and other employee records.
Please search for responsive records in the email accounts of the following:

Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH

Anne Schuchat, MD (RADM, USPHS, RET)

Jeff Reczek, MPA

Mitchell Wolfe, MD, MPH

Steve Monroe, PhD

John Howard, MD, MPH, JD, LLM, MBA

Nathaniel Smith, MD, MPH

Daniel Jernigan, MD, MPH (CAPT, USPHS, RET)

Steve Monroe, PhD

Rebecca Bunnell, PhD, MEd

Michael F. Iademarco, MD, MPH (RADM, USPHS)

Leslie Ann Dauphin, PhD

Karen Hacker, MD, MPH

Jay C. Butler, MD (CAPT, USPHS, RET)
The email accounts of all employees in the Division of Vector-Borne Disease including but not limited to:
The Director of the Division of Vector-Borne Diseases
The AD for Communications
The AD for Management & Operations
The AD for Policy and Extramural Programs
The Assist. Dir. for Extramural Programs
Deputy Director Debra R. Lubar
Deputy Director Christopher Braden
The AD for Science
The AD for Lab Science
Statistic Team Lead
IT Program Manager
Any and all contributors, including those with editorial approval, to the content of this document: https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/postlds/
In addition, please provide the following additional records:
1) the CDC's FOIA manual or other policy documents regarding FOIA searches for responsive records
2) a roster or similar records with email addresses of all employees in the Division of Vector-Borne Disease (DVBD)
3) any records that describes the CDC's (or parent organization insofar as they apply to the CDC) email or electronic message policies including record retention policies
4) any records that describe the CDC's electronic message or email respositories
5) any records, including instruction manuals, that delineate the CDC's ability to search, archive, process or otherwise find email records sent and/or received by CDC employees
Sincerely,
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Dec. 9, 2020. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #21-00401-FOIA.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Hello Mr. Sparks,
I received a status inquiry from you sent yesterday indicating you were wanting a status for your FOIA request 21-00401.
We sent out three separate letters to this e-mail address.
1. An acknowledgement letter was sent on 23 December 2020.
2. A too broad letter was sent on 23 December 2020.
3. An administrative closure letter was sent on 28 January 2021.
I have attached all three for your records.
The too broad letter sent in December asked for several items to reduce the scope of your request to a manageable level. We received no response to our letter. An administrative closure letter was sent after the time allotted passed, as indicated in our too broad letter. All items were sent electronically to the e-mail address you provided in your initial request description.
At this point, the case file has been closed for an extensive amount of time. We would not be able to re-open this case file.
You could resubmit your FOIA request, but again, as written, it would be deemed too broad/unduly burdensome for the agency to complete with a reasonable amount of effort. You could use the too broad letter as a guide to reformulate your request which could be narrow enough for the agency to complete. You could then submit your reformulated request to the agency for action.
v/r,
Emerique
Emerique C. Magyar
Government Information Specialist
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Office
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
E: emerique.magyar@cdc.hhs.gov
O: 770-488-6359
From: Justin Sparks
A response was sent in March 31. If you can take months to respond, so can I. You risk an administrative appeal and then a lawsuit for refusing to respond. If you need a mother copy of the narrowed request let me know.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Dec. 9, 2020. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #21-00401-FOIA.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Hello Sir,
I need you to contact me via phone at the number below: 770-488-6359. I will be in the office today until 2PM. If you cannot contact today, I will be out the rest of the week until 12 October.
Respectfully,
Emerique
Emerique C. Magyar
Government Information Specialist
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Office
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
E: emerique.magyar@cdc.hhs.gov
O: 770-488-6359
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