MOU and MOA (Federal Aviation Administration)

To Whom It May Concern:

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

All current interagency Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) or Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) between your agency and any other agency or department.

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

You may limit the records to MOU/MOAs between your agency and the following other agencies:

The Department of Justice and other components in the Department of Justice
The Department of Homeland Security
The Central Intelligence Agency
The National Security Agency

Further, I request a list of all Memorandum of understanding (MOU) and Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) between your agency and any other agency or department. I am not asking you to create a listing, but rather, I understand that your agency maintains a listing.

All subjects for which you have MOU/MOAs.

I provided specific names of agencies to search for.

I believe that I have been quite specific. If you are denying my request please say so, so that I may appeal. Otherwise please process this request. Thank you very much.

To summarize my FOIA request, I have requested all interagency Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) or Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) between your agency and any of the following agencies:
The Department of Justice and other components in the Department of Justice
The Department of Homeland Security
The Central Intelligence Agency
The National Security Agency

You may limit the request further to MOA/MOUs currently in affect and further to those created on or after January 1, 2012.

It is my belief that this request reasonably describes the records' sought. You cited Dale v. IRS, however, my above request is very specific and in no way is similar to Dale's request that sought "'any and all documents . . . that refer or relate in any way'."

Although it may be a burden to search for these records, I direct you to FOIA Update, Vol. IV, No. 3, at 5, "The sheer size or burdensomeness of a FOIA request, in and of itself, does not entitle an agency to deny that request on the ground that it does not 'reasonably describe' records within the meaning of 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(3)(A)."

Also, consider Doolittle v. United States Dep't of Justice, 142 F. Supp. 2d 281, 285 (N.D.N.Y. 2001) which concluded "that so long as description of records sought is otherwise reasonable, agency cannot refuse to search for records simply because requester did not also identify them by the date on which they were created." In this case, I have reasonably described the records, but you have refused to search based on not having the exact subject of the memos despite having otherwise reasonably described the records; the same principal applies here as Doolittle v. DOJ.

For these reasons, and any others deemed appropriate by the appeals authority, I hereby appeal your rejection of my FOIA request for the records described at the beginning of this communication.

If you wish to avoid adding to the burden of the appeals officer(s), I am willing to withdraw my appeal if you will agree to make a reasonable search for the records requested. Otherwise, please be sure that my appeal is directed to the proper authority.

Regards,
Jason Smathers

This is an appeal.

My FOIA request was as follows: "all interagency Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) or Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) between your agency and any of the following agencies:
The Department of Justice and other components in the Department of Justice
The Department of Homeland Security
The Central Intelligence Agency
The National Security Agency

You may limit the request further to MOA/MOUs currently in affect and further to those created on or after January 1, 2012."

It is my belief that this request reasonably describes the records' sought. You cited Dale v. IRS, however, my above request is very specific and in no way is similar to Dale's request that sought "'any and all documents . . . that refer or relate in any way'."

Although it may be a burden to search for these records, I direct you to FOIA Update, Vol. IV, No. 3, at 5, "The sheer size or burdensomeness of a FOIA request, in and of itself, does not entitle an agency to deny that request on the ground that it does not 'reasonably describe' records within the meaning of 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(3)(A)."

Also, consider Doolittle v. United States Dep't of Justice, 142 F. Supp. 2d 281, 285 (N.D.N.Y. 2001) which concluded "that so long as description of records sought is otherwise reasonable, agency cannot refuse to search for records simply because requester did not also identify them by the date on which they were created." In this case, I have reasonably described the records, but you have refused to search based on not having the exact subject of the memos despite having otherwise reasonably described the records; the same principal applies here as Doolittle v. DOJ.

For these reasons, and any others deemed appropriate by the appeals authority, I hereby appeal your rejection of my FOIA request for the records described at the beginning of this communication.