Ohio National Guard Members Who Fought in Syria

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Ohio Open Records Law, I hereby request the following records:

- 201551FEB15; 20 FEB 2015; DOI UNK; and
- 201641FEB2015; 23 FEB 2015; DOI UNK.
Both of these documents are cited in the footnotes of the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis Field Analysis Report, "Ohioans Traveling to Syria and Iraq to Fight Against ISIL," attached to this request as a PDF file.

If any part of these documents are exempt from disclosure, please release all reasonably segregable nonexempt portions of responsive documents.

I request that I be properly classified as a news media requester. I am a reporter for the National Interest, and I am requesting this information in that editorial capacity.

The National Interest is widely recognized for its reporting, publishing regular features on issues of public interest and importance. In addition, I have covered areas related to this request, and plan to use my editorial skills to analyze and produce original reporting work for millions of monthly readers at NationalInterest.org.

If you have any questions about my media status, please contact me.

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 10 business days.

Sincerely,

Matthew Petti

CW4 Blain and Director Gabriel,

Thank you for acknowledging receipt of my request. I had been under the impression that the Ohio National Guard was governed by the Ohio Open Records Law; apologies for any confusion that may have caused. I am therefore changing the first line of my request to the following: "Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records"

Furthermore, I would like to add the following line: "If any part of these documents are exempt from disclosure, please release all reasonably segregable nonexempt portions of responsive documents, as the FOIA requires."

Finally, I would like to change the last line, as the FOIA allows for a longer response time: "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."

Thank you again for your attention to this matter, and I look forward to working with you as we move forwards with the request.

Best regards,
Matthew Petti

Dear CW4 Blain,

Thank you for your prompt response. I do wish to create a fee agreement, and am willing to pay up to $100 for processing this request, although I do kindly request that you inform me of the total anticipated charges in advance of fulfilling my request if this search time exceeds 2 hours or more 100 pages turn up. I hope this fee agreement will allow us to move forward without many more hiccups. Again, thank you for your attention to this matter.

Best,
Matthew

To Whom This May Concern:

My name is Matthew Petti, and I am writing to appear your determination in FOIA request number FA-20-0009.

I am appealing the integrity of the search, on the grounds that it was obviously insufficient. The final response letter stated that a search "failed to locate any documents that would be responsive to your request," but the two documents that I requested were named and attributed to the Ohio National Guard in a report by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Intelligence & Analysis, which I had attached to the initial request. I have re-attached the report to this appeal for your reference.

The report states that "[o]n 20 February 2015, an identified member of the Ohio National Guard indicated his desire to join the 'Lions of Rojava' to combat ISIL. He inquired with his chain of command about transferring his status to Individual Ready Reserve or Inactive National Guard if he was not able to deploy with an Ohio National Guard unit. The individual’s father was willing to finance his son’s trip overseas to Syria or Iraq, according to information provided by the Ohio National Guard.22,23"

The endnotes 22 and 23 refer to two documents, named only as "Ohio National Guard; 201551FEB15; 20 FEB 2015; DOI UNK" and "Ohio National Guard; 201641FEB2015; 23 FEB 2015; DOI UNK." It is clear that the Department of Homeland Security received these two documents from the Ohio National Guard. It is unclear why a search of Ohio National Guard records failed to locate them.

Thank you for your help, and I look forward to hearing the decision on this appeal.

Best regards,
Matthew Petti